Fire and Ice, a Naruto fanfic
by thecellocaseofdoom
Summary: She was fire. He was ice. They were not meant for each other. Just ask Sakura. But, as they say, opposites attract. And Fate has a stupid way of making everything right when you try to force two people together. SasuXOC
1. The Project

**Hey there! This is Miyu-chan…with a new obsession. Naruto (the show, not the guy)! And Sasuke. But I'll get to that later. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy reading…**

**P.S.: Okay, so I realize they're supposed to be twelve right here and now, but I figured that was too damn young for whatever is in store for them. So, basically now, they're all fourteen and such. And I made Tsunade the Hokage. And, Shippuden aside, I made Sasuke stay with Team 7. Hope you guys got nothing wrong with all of those major changes, but hey, that's why they call it FICTION. **

**OKAY, SORRY FOR MISTAKES!!! I WAS REALLY SLEEPY WHEN I WROTE THIS. THE OC's NAME IS AMAYA. NOT AYAME. Sorry, really!**

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"You will be joining Team 7, and there are already three ninjas in there, but, since Team 7 has been quite...exemplary in skills, I'm sure Naruto and his friends can make some room for you, although I'm not so sure about Sasuke…"

I stared out the window and tried not to yawn. My gaze drifted in and out of focus. I didn't have much sleep last night. Stupid big brother kept me up talking about some stupid new novel he'd been reading. Adult novel, no less. Well, he _was _thirty.

My gaze drifted down. My God. How does that woman keep those things in her bra?

"Amaya? Amaya, are you listening?" I looked up suddenly. Tsunade-sensei looked kind of annoyed. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking and my big mouthed-ness got there before my stupid, slow-footed rational self did.

"No."

She raised an eyebrow at me. I backtracked and shot her a wide smile. Jeesh, was it wrong to be honest now?

"What I mean is yes, yes I am listening to you, 100% percent." She didn't look convinced. Oh, well. Most people didn't look totally convinced when I told them I had been listening to them blabber. I probably hadn't been playing my "interested about your problems" part good enough. Besides, I didn't like listening, I only liked talking. I liked talking and talking and talking and talking and never shutting up. It was my hobby. Kakashi said I got it from him. Now I ain't gonna lie and tell you some freaky crap about Kakashi being the quietest boy ever. The boy _does_ talk a lot.

"Well, if you _have _been listening, then you may proceed to Team 7. I'm assuming Kakashi is outside waiting for you?" I nodded. She smiled at me, tucking her blonde hair back one ear. I still couldn't get _quite _used to the fact that this big-boobed lady was the die-hard gambler most people made her out to be, when she looked so…innocent and pretty and twenty-ish.

"I really hope you do well on your first day, Amaya." She sounded really sincere, so I smiled at her—a real smile, this time—thanked her for everything, and got out of the room.

***

I swung my arms as I walked towards the hill where I could see my big brother's (well, he's not exactly my big brother, but you'll find out why later) grey head peeking out (boy's hair defies gravity). I ran up the next few steps and raced to meet him.

"Hey kiddo. So, did you listen to Tsunade?" I ran into his arms and he messed up my black hair.

"…Yeah."

"…."

"No."

"That's what I thought. So anyway, let's go, shall we?" I hooked my arm through Kakashi's and he began walking, steering us north.

"Where we going?" I asked, taking a lungful of air. Leaves crackled as we stepped on them.

"Team 7," was Kakashi's only reply. We walked the rest in silence. It wasn't the uncomfortable kind of silence. We were always like this. When we were together, we were silent. When I was with other people, I tended to be talkative. I wanted people to know more about me than I wanted to know more about them. I guess I just wanted to let them know how friendly and nice (and big mouthed and insensitive) I was so they would like me right away. I had a fear of not being liked. It wasn't like that with Kakashi and me. He already knew everything about me, and I already knew everything about him, and we both liked each other fine, so no need for pointless conversations of 'what's your favourite color' and 'what are your hobbies'.

Well…I guess there were _some_ things I hadn't exactly told Kakashi…but they don't come here until a few more chapters, so you're going to have to wait (haha).

"We're here!" Kakashi used the 'we' pronoun and I saw it immediately caught the attention of three ninjas who were scattered along the field. My eyes stared at them curiously, and they stared at me.

There was a little blonde one with whiskers (whiskers?) on his face. There was a pink-haired girl who was smiling at me. Then there was a guy with raven hair that stuck up at the back. He looked sort of intimidating. My impressively courageous big mouth shrivelled up in the process and all traces of bravado were wearing off. Ah, _hell_.

"Kakashi-sensei! Who's this?" the little blonde one yelled. Kakashi winced. I tried to suppress a smile. The boy had a great set of lungs.

"This is your new teammate, Naruto. And lower your voice, I'm not deaf." Kakashi rubbed his ear. "She's the reason why I'm late."

"You're _always _late. Well at least this time your excuse wasn't about a cat or whatever…" the raven-haired boy trailed off boredly.

"Hi." I forced my voice to be cheerful and loud, to further drown out any lies Kakashi might throw at them. Something crazy like I had a crush on Gaara, or whatever…Okay so maybe I had (had—past tense. I've told Kakashi a million times, but does he listen?)! But c'mon… I was like…twelve…

"I'm Hatake Amaya," I continued.

"Hatake? So you're…what, married to Kakashi-sensei?" the blonde one grinned at me. "Wow, she's really pretty, Kakashi! But…I never knew you liked teenage girls." I didn't know whether to be grateful he'd called me pretty or offended that he thought I was married to my older brother.

"Moron, we're not _married_, she's my little sister." Kakashi smacked the back of the blonde's head. The raven-haired boy rolled his eyes.

"Ouch! Really?" Blondie peered at me. I tumbled back a few steps. "She doesn't really look like you…" He stared at me, then back to Kakashi. He was obviously fuming about how dumb we thought he was because we obviously didn't look alike. Obviously. It wasn't my fault. I knew we weren't exactly Siamese twins. But that was because…

"She's my _adopted_ little sis," Kakashi explained and grabbed my head in a headlock. I wriggled out of his arms and, glaring at him, rubbed my black hair back in place.

Well, it was pretty obvious Kakashi and I weren't tied by our blood. He had silver hair; my hair was so black it looked like it had black and purple strands. His eyes were black, mine were sort of dark violet. Sides, he was tall and I was teeny. Well, not teeny, but small for my age. Hey, I'll grow! I just needed milk, is all…

"Yeah, I'm adopted. Don't ask me my last name cause I don't know either," I scratched the back of my head with an apologetic smile. It was true. I never had even heard of or seen the people who had created me. Not that I cared. I had all my family I needed without them.

Kakashi smiled and patted me. "So, this little annoying guy with the blonde hair is Uzumaki Naruto. The sweet pink-haired girl there is Haruna Sakura, and the grumpy boy in the sidelines is Uchiha Sasuke,"

I flashed them all a smile. Sasuke. Where had I heard that before…?

"Yo!"

"Hi,"

"Hn,"

"Okay, so I'm not going to let Amaya train today. Firstly, she's new to this team. Secondly, you'll learn the other reason tomorrow. We go on our first mission day after tomorrow. I'm going to town to do some errands. I'll be back in a while, but Naruto and Sasuke, why don't you start things off. And after that, Sasuke and Sakura, then Naruto and Sakura. Amaya, kiddo, just watch." Kakashi shot them a look with his one eye, patted me on the head and had begun to walk off when I caught up with him.

"Wha-"

"Don't leave me here,"

Kakashi's eyes softened.

"Hey, don't worry. You'll be fine. I have to go and get your bags from the inn, then run a few more errands, then I'll be back. Talk to Sakura. She's really friendly. Okay?"

I bit my lip. "Okay."

"Good. Have fun, Maya," He grinned and walked away.

I looked after him for a few seconds, then, sensing a body not more than a few feet behind me, I pasted one of those totally fake wide smiles on my faces and came face to face with the Sakura girl.

"Hi!" She smiled at me.

"Hi!" I smiled back.

"So…you're Kakashi-sensei's little sister." She stated it like a fact. I was glad she hadn't used "adopted".

"What's it like?" I liked that she seemed genuinely curious.

"It's really fun… I mean, once you get past the fact that there are really things you can't get from him, like removing that ridiculous headband slash eyepatch he's always wearing, or getting him to stop reading novels. He's funny and he understands me...he's not my biological brother, but I think we have a…connection in some way," I tried to explain. Sakura nodded, and she had a smile on her face. Now, I was the one curious about her. Weird.

"Tell me more about you, then." I prodded her, seeing her face turn red. I wondered what it was making her blush. It's not like she was a stripper or whatever. What was there to be embarrassed about?

Then I saw her eyes flit over to where Sasuke and Naruto were shooting shuriken at each other. Her eyes hesitated at Sasuke and I got it.

"You like _Sasuke_?" I couldn't help gaping. Sasuke? I mean, if you forced me, I couldn't help but accept that the guy was good looking and all that but, the same, Sasuke? I much preferred Naruto, which did not mean that I liked Naruto, but that Naruto just seemed friendlier and happier and more fun to hang out with than Sasuke, who looked kind of like those emo people who cut themselves. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

"Yeah…" Sakura lowered her voice. Her cheeks were burning.

"Oh. Wow! He's really…" I searched for the right word. "Unique. Yeah. I bet he likes you," I teased, raising my eyebrows suggestively. I had the sudden impression that if I kept teasing Sakura-chan she'd blow up into a giant tomato and we'd all have her for lunch.

"What? No! He-he doesn't like anybody," Sakura mumbled. "Especially me," I hated the way her eyes cast down when she said this. I hated it when guys made girls feel conscious and ugly. Been there, done that (remember Gaara?).

"Really?" I narrowed my eyes and looked at the dark-haired Uchiha boy from the corner of my eye.

"Then that'll be my project! The Get Sasuke To Like Sakura Project!"

"Amaya-chan!"

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…**I know. Amaya-chan needs to work on her project name. But, anyways, this is chappie one! If you guys have any comments, feel free to type it out. I'd really like to hear your opinions, so I can improve. :) ****Just to tell ya, I am completely brain dead about Sasuke. I lurves him. Haha. HE'S MINE!!! **

**Sasuke: No I am not.**

**Me: Shut up or I'll make you eat frogs while Itachi stands over you eating fried chicken and yelling at you to eat faster. **

**Sasuke: Just kidding. Of course I belong to you!**

**Cookies to reviews!**

**~Ms. Miyuki-who-will-never-be-an-Uchiha. XD**** What I'd tell ya? Brain dead. **


	2. Obsessed?

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**Oh man, I am SO sorry! I know, I know. The whole Amaya-Ayame thing is really...well, stupid. Anyways, I fixed it up. I was kind of sleepy when I wrote the fic (ideas come at the unholiest hour) and I got the names mixed up. Really, really, really sorry! Anyways. Onwards! **

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_Oh man, I am brilliant. Go me! _

I grinned like crazy, watching Sakura pace back and forth, obsessing whether it'd work (well, duh!) and if maybe Sasuke would finally like her, and about beating some crazy bitch whatever who she called Ino-pig. She looked like a pink potato. Tornado. I mean tornado.

"You mean it? You're really going to help me?" She shot me one of those puppy dog eyes complete with the sparkles and the pink background.

"Of course! I mean, it's probably not like we're going to have missions every day, since I upset your schedule and everything. So I'll need something to keep my mind on, and you and Sasuke are the perfect thing," I narrowed my eyes at said person. He and Naruto were still having what seemed like a long, and intense, training battle. Oh, well! More time for me.

"So…" I looked her over. My eyes roamed around. "Hm…not bad. Not bad." Kinda big on the forehead area but we could deal with that.

"Really?" She looked hopeful. I shot her a giant thumbs up sign.

With a little of those bangs to cover the forehead, just a _smudge_ of my favourite black glittery smoke eyeliner, a dab of blush here and there and a little color on her lips, there was no way Sasuke (or any other male anything) would ever be able to resist Sakura when I was done with her!

****

"Ta-da!"

No answer. Just panting.

"Ah-hum! I said, TA-DA!"

I glared at the two boys, who were obviously tired and not paying attention. Naruto was on the ground. Sasuke was a little more dignified, leaning against a tree. There were shurikens imbedded everywhere. Jeesh, I wondered how long it would take to clean up this mess.

"What—is—it—Amaya-chan?" Naruto puffed. It looked like the boy was on his last legs. Well, better not prolong his pain. I spun Sakura (who had been scuffing her shoe on the ground and not looking up) and presented her to the whole wide world (Naruto and Sasuke).

"Wow!"

I grinned at Naruto's wide-eyed response. I knew Sakura looked really pretty right now (thanks to me, but of course, I was too humble to say that).

"I did most of the stuff and she just sat there," I sang, obviously oh-so-proud of myself. Hah. So much for being humble.

To be honest, the forehead had been a little work. But I managed to fix Sakura's bangs so that her bangs were now the uber chic side bangs and covered half of her forehead, which reduced the…er, bigness. Anyway, if she just shook her hair a little, the bangs would go right back so I had to use my trusty bobby pins (taken from my hair, which was now hanging loose) to fix them. I had also used my eyeliner (which wasn't like Gaara's, thank you very much) and set Sakura's green eyes even more dramatically. Her cheeks were pink and her smile was radiant. I knew she looked beautiful, and Sakura knew she looked beautiful, and Naruto definitely knew she looked beautiful. I was sort of waiting for Sasuke to suddenly fall in love and kiss Sakura because she was so beautiful.

Ah, hell. Do you have to do _everything_?

"Sasuke, what do you think of Sakura?" My eyes twitched as I stared at him, head-on. _Say she looks radiant. Or pretty. Or glorious. Say something. _

"Hn. Whatever," I shot him a glare and wished that it caused him pain. Huh. Conceited little boy.

"That probably means he thinks you're beautiful," I translated (kind of) to Sakura, who blushed and stared at Sasuke bravely. Sasuke rolled his eyes and honestly, I wanted to gouge them from their sockets. How could the kid be so mean? Here was Sakura, young and fresh and beautiful, and there was he, seriously hot and cold and unfeeling. But, before I could fall down straight into the Pit of Emoness, from which I would never rise again, I had a sudden Amaya Brainflash (yes, I am a dork).

"So...you guys are done training, right?" I asked, my voice overly-perky usually reserved for those big-boobed blonde bimbos who do cheerleader stuff. Sasuke skewered me with his suspicious black eyes.

"Yeah,"

"Why don't Naruto and Sakura continue…then?" I said, going over my words slowly.

"But didn't Kakashi-sensei say that Sasuke and Sakura—"

"Naruto, are you tired?" He looked shocked by my abruptness. I prayed to God that this would work.

"Well…yeah. I used all my chakra over there,"

"Well then we should rest. Since we can't work in pairs—" I winced apologetically at them all—" Tomorrow, promise. Then we'll be able to go on missions. Right now, basically we're just wasting chakra. I mean, Naruto is tired. Sasuke over there is tired, too. And you stop scowling at me, Sasuke; I can see that bead of sweat crawling on your forehead. Why don't we just rest?" I flashed them my most innocent smile. They caved.

Naruto started talking to Sakura who was too busy staring at Sasuke to pay attention. Sasuke moved, purposely at the back of a large tree where not even Sakura, who was craning her neck, could see him. He was alone.

Which, of course, was exactly what I needed.

****

"What do you need?"

Jeesh. Guy was too direct.

"Oh, come on, Uchiha. Is it so weird for me to be talking to my new teammate?" I batted my eyelashes sweetly at him. Truthfully, I was here to gather info about Sasuke's preferences (like; what was his type of girl, did he like Sakura, was he gay, if so, was Naruto going out with him, you know, important stuff) and pass them on to Sakura. I wasn't about to give up on the two of them. They were like R & J, only without the dying. (Romeo and Juliet).

"Yes."

"Okay then. Well, let's just say that I am weird," I took a deep breath. I was going to have to start this discreetly.

"Do you like Sakura?"

Jeesh, I was so discreet it made my heart ache.

"What?" Sasuke twisted his head to glare at me.

"I-I mean," I back-pedalled, FAST. The glare was killing me. "It's so obvious Sakura and just about every other girl here in Konoha has some sort of crazy obsession about you. Why don't you just pick someone, like, um, Sakura, and get it over with?"

"Because," He looked at me like I was a moron. Wasn't goin' to argue there. "I don't have time for love. I have a man to kill. Why are you asking me, anyway?"

_Good question. It deserves a good answer. C'mon, Amaya. Good answer. Yeah. Good answer. Answer goodly. _

"Why do I need to have a reason for every goddamn question? I mean, the whole world is a question and nobody seems to be able to find a reason big enough for it, so why should I look for a reason for such a small question as 'do you like Sakura, say yes or die'?" I flashed him a peace sign. He stared at me coolly.

"Well, do you?"

"No." He stood up and with a glare, walked away from me, but not without these parting words.

"You haven't been here half a day and you're already annoying me. Get this through your head. Whatever thing you do to Sakura, I will not like her, so just give up."

I clenched my fists as he walked away. Wondering whether Kakashi would see it fit if Sasuke got injured by twenty thousand ice needles today, I looked back and saw Sakura staring with a deflated look on her face. She had obviously known Sasuke enough to know that the conversation we were having as it is, was over.

_Oh, I _am_ going to make you fall in love with Sakura. Just watch me_, I narrowed my eyes at him. You know how it is when you want to prove someone wrong (like your mother) and you do everything just to get that one smug moment? Yeah?

It was official. I was obsessed.

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**I am really, oh, so, sorry! Anyways, a clue as to why Kakashi wouldn't let Amaya-chan train today is posted somewhere in the ending of this chappie. Don't worry, you'll find out next chapter. BYEEE!!!**


	3. Amaya vs Naruto!

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Yo, yo, yo... I know I suck. Sorry, life is just getting in the way of my writing.

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"Oh my God," Sakura breathed.

"It can't be!"

"No!"

Kakashi stared at his pupils in aggravation. What was it?

They all pointed at him, eyes raised in accusation.

"YOU'RE _EARLY_!!!"

Oh. Yes. Well. That.

"Yes I am. Wow. I guess the road of life went easy on me today," Kakashi grinned. His eyes—well, it'd be more appropriate, so—his eye searched for the familiar head of black.

"Where's Amaya?"

Silence. Then a sound of crackling leaves.

"I'm HERE!" Amaya screamed, dodging past tree branches and reaching out to meet them. She was soaking wet. Little droplets of water dripped from her shorts. There were leaves in her hair. Kakashi's eyes narrowed when he saw her.

"Have you been practicing again?"

"…Maybe—"

"Amaya! You know how dangerous that is! We can't risk that! What if someone saw you? What would happen then?" Kakashi glared at her. She was quiet, her head hung down.

"Sorry Kashi-chan," She murmured. Kakashi's eyes softened. He moved over to put his arm around her shoulder and steered her so they faced the faces of three extremely confused children.

"What was that all about? What did you mean by 'practicing'? Was she swimming in the pond? Why is Amaya-chan wet? What happened? Why is it dangerous? Why—"

"Shut him up before it gets worse," Sasuke glared at Naruto, who shut his mouth and glared back.

"Kakashi-sensei? Um…I don't mean to intrude…but…what exactly was that about?" Sakura hesitated, her green eyes looking over Amaya.

Kakashi sighed. "I'll show you. Amaya, go change first."

As soon as the black haired girl was gone, Kakashi asked Naruto to come forward.

"Eh? What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"You'll be having a match with Amaya when she gets back. Okay?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but let it go. If Amaya really was something, Kakashi would have put her up against him.

"I want you to take this as seriously as possible, Naruto. Don't underestimate Amaya," Kakashi warned.

As expected, Naruto raised his fist in the air and let out his 'I'll beat you all and become Hokage' speech. Kakashi and the others clapped politely when he was done.

"Okay. I'm ready." Amaya appeared, wearing a blue shirt with black sleeves and black shorts, her hair in a ponytail.

Naruto walked forward, with an exulted smile on his face. Amaya seemed to know who she was fighting, because her eyes zeroed on Naruto. They walked towards each other, and stood back to back, waiting for the 'go' signal.

Naruto tensed. He didn't know what kind of a ninja Amaya was. If maybe he was more alike with Kakashi-sensei than she had let on. He was blind from here, but he would know soon enough with a few kunais there and his ninja clones to help him.

Amaya seemed to be feeling for something, and then she found it. Her eyes were bright and excited, they were waiting for the signal.

"Go!"

Quick as a flash, Naruto spun a shuriken at Amaya's left leg. It was far away enough to cause a lot of blood—if the target was hit. He used the time to immediately do his hand signs and summon four of his clones. Amaya dodged, grabbed the shuriken as it went passing by, and threw it back to Naruto. The clones were running at her from all sides. Amaya sustained a couple of blows at her gut, then started hitting each clone with two of her fingers exactly where she had been taught to. Chest, hands, feet, neck. In a few minutes, the clones were unable to move one single muscle.

_Impossible! What did she do? _Naruto shot several kunai at her, all the while thinking of some other strategy.

"When Kakashi left to become your sensei, I was around medical ninjas a lot. I know how your body works and all your weak points."

Naruto's eyes widened._ Oh, this is bad! If she knows as much as a medical ninja should, then she would know how to shut of all of my body receptors! Damn it! _

Naruto gritted his teeth. He ran and jumped off a tree, gathering force as he went. He began shooting several kunai in her direction with all the force he could muster. Amaya dodged, but got hit, a line of red appearing on her left thigh. The kunai exploded upon meeting the ground, and a cloud of smoke erupted. Amaya coughed and tried to look for the blonde head, but the air was too thick with the explosion it was impossible. _I'll have to get a better view_.

She ran up a tree, jumped off the highest branch and, spotting Naruto, shot kunai after kunai , her left leg trembling. Naruto, ducking, could see that the kunai had caused more damage than he thought. _Maybe that's her weak spot. _

He could see that she was building up chakra in one hand, and she was going to bring it down on him. _If I get hit with that at this height--!!_

Naruto immediately summoned his clones again to distract his opponent. They didn't last long, but their point was to tire Amaya out and give him time to work this out.

He couldn't get close enough to hit her physically, and she was way to fast to allow him to gather up enough chakra for a decent attack. If he stopped even for a moment, she might get close enough and he might not be able to move. All sides looked depressing.

_Whatever! I won't give up!_

With a yell, Naruto ran fast and aimed a hard punch at a surprised Amaya. Blood ran from her mouth in a thin trickle. She ducked around as Naruto threw punches here and there, finally getting lucky when he saw that Amaya's left leg was still trembling. With a tinge of regret, he kicked as hard as he could. He could actually feel the bone cracking.

With a small gasp, Amaya fell backwards onto the dirt as her left leg gave in. She crumpled on the ground, taking deep breaths, blood running down her mouth. Her leg was limp on the ground.

Doing it as fast as he could, Naruto did his hand signs and blew out a large gust of fire point black at Amaya.

Dust settled, everybody craning their necks to see who had won.

A thousand ice needles were in front of Amaya, manipulated by her hands. They protected her from the fireball. Her left leg was motionless, and she stood up with difficulty. The ice needles were still, waiting for her command. With a grim smile, she shot them all straight at Naruto. Sakura let out a gasp.

_Naruto! _

Sasuke froze.

_Impossible…she's a…_

"Amaya!" Kakashi shot out a warning.

Amaya stopped in her tracks. She spun the ice needles around and around and created a wave, directing it straight at her opponent. Her hair whipped around as the wave turned into a whirlpool and Naruto was about to get sucked under.

_That's…that's…what Haku used to do…_ Naruto froze in his tracks.

"Naruto! Get out of the way!"

_Sakura…No way! I will not stay here standing like a coward! _

Naruto struggled, building up as much chakra as he could. He needed this for the final blow. The flow of chakra was interrupted as ice needles pinned him to a tree, thankfully only one nicking his throat.

With a final apologetic smile at Naruto, Amaya Hatake, Kakashi's "adopted" sister, who was of the advanced bloodline of Haku's clan, crumpled to the ground, an ice needle clutched in one hand.

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**More SasuXMaya-ness on chappie 5. **


	4. Something More

**Wahahaha...**

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"Explain,"

Kakashi looked up from Amaya, who was sleeping peacefully. Her left leg was encased in a blue liquid, which, the medical ninja had promised, would help heal it. They were in Konoha.

"What do you want to know?" Kakashi asked, leaning back on the chair. He felt bad for putting Amaya through this much pain, but Tsunade had said that it was better that Team 7 knew about Amaya and her abilities, and it was better for Amaya too. Her whole life she had to hide what she could do, the Sannin didn't want any word of this survivor of the advanced bloodline reaching Orochimaru. Or worse, reaching other ninjas who might want to kill her. She had to stop practicing it, and when she was young, she used to think that her gift was a curse. She had been brought up as well as she should have, but a little part of her always thought she was a monster and a threat to the people. If the people of the advanced bloodline weren't such monsters, then why were they killed?

But Tsunade and the other Sannin felt that Amaya must be proud of her skill and not afraid and disgusted at it. They encouraged her to train, and train hard to control herself. The danger was that a knee jerk reaction from her was potent enough to kill someone.

His three pupils were standing above. Naruto had several bandages on him, but after he had (loudly) protested that he didn't need rest, the medical ninjas had given him his way. Sakura's eyes were wide and worried as she stared at Amaya's sleeping form. Sasuke looked slightly impressed, but that was Sasuke.

"Everything," Naruto said loudly, and then backtracked. "I mean, I'm sorry I broke her foot, Kakashi-sensei!" He bowed several times. "I didn't mean it, really! —"

"I know, Naruto. It's okay. You've improved, anyway, and that's the general point of matches." Kakashi smiled. He put away several bottles of green liquid that would help ease Amaya's pain, and began his story.

"Do you know the story of the advanced bloodline?"

All three nodded.

"Haku was one of them, and so is Amaya. But their story is slightly different. Amaya's mother carried down the bloodline, but when Amaya's father found out, he didn't have her killed. We don't know if he did it out of love, or if he just spared her because he was too afraid. Unfortunately, they both died. Nobody knows how, or why. Maybe someone found out and thought to put them to justice. Either way, Amaya was left in a basket and she was later found flowing downstream Konoha. The ninjas who found her were kind-hearted, and they took her in. After they found of her skill, they reported her immediately to the Third Hokage, who would entrust her to me when the time was right. She stayed at Shizune's place a while and got interested in the medical ninjas scrolls. I visited every time that I could. As soon as she turned fifteen, she was entrusted to me and she was to be my adopted sister. This morning, I wanted her to train with you so that you may look at her potential and see how much she protects...and how much she needs protecting." Kakashi finished. There was silence.

"So she can do what Haku can do? The mirror thing?" Naruto broke the question that was screaming itself in Sakura and Sasuke's mind. They had all seen Haku's mirrors and their capabilities.

"The Makyou HyouShou HiJutsu? Yes, but she's not very good at it. Amaya hates it that she sees people in slow motion from where she stands. I told you, she's very rash. She likes action. What she's good at is manipulating water. You've seen her with ice needles. She has basically exactly the same skill Haku had with them. She can control her chakra so much that she doesn't get tired easily, but that's when she's up to her level and really pushing it." Kakashi pointed at Naruto. "You've seen what she did to your clones. She's like Kabuto, knowing where to cut off your tendons and muscles so you can't move. She knows every flow of energy in your body, she can sense them. We don't exactly know how, or why, but she has a skill resembling the Byakugan, levels lower, of course, but she doesn't _see_, she _senses_, she _feels_. She only has to be within a ten meter proximity of the person to see the chakra flows. What her problem is, she's very rash. She's jumped too many opportunities. She doesn't have strategy," _She loves too hard_.

"I've been training her, since I know a lot of the water techniques, and that's where ninjas who hail from the Hidden Mist Village specialize."

"Why was she put in our team?" Sasuke suddenly asked. He was pissed that Kakashi had put Naruto up against Amaya. Sasuke was just itching to try and test Amaya, to see if she was better than him.

"Tsunade thought she would do better when surrounded by…" Kakashi looked around him. "'Ambitious ninjas with exemplary skill', as she put it. She thought that Amaya would really push herself,"

"Will she be alright?" Sakura bit her lip. She had wanted to hit Naruto after hearing that Amaya's leg was cracked in several places, but decided that she had better do it when the latter was fully healed.

"Oh yes, she'll be fine. She can heal herself, but she can only do minor injuries, nothing major." Kakashi smiled at them all. "The point of this match was to show you how Amaya is, how she works. Also, it was to improve Naruto and Amaya." Kakashi paused and a look of pain flashed across his features. "She thinks she's a curse. She knew her parents were killed because of her, and she thinks she's a threat to everybody."

"She didn't seem to be holding back," Sasuke pointed out.

"She was," Kakashi murmured. "More than you can imagine." He swept a hand over Amaya's injured leg and shot them all a glance.

"Injuries like these are inevitable, but next time, we'll keep it down to a training battle, okay?" Kakashi looked straight at Sasuke when he said this.

"Of course!"

"Hn,"

"Okay!"

"Okay. Amaya is going to be here for a while, she'll be conscious later tonight. Now, let's go get us some ramen!"

A whizzing sound.

"Naruto? Naruto? Where are you?"

"Oh, great," Sakura groaned. "He's gone and ordered already,"

A pair of black eyes trailed over Amaya, measuring her skill and wondering if there really was more to this annoying girl than he thought.

* * *

**SasuXOCness in following chapters! Beware! Haha..:) **


	5. Deal!

**Thankies to those who reviewed!! Anyways…this is where the SasuXMaya-ness starts… *evil laughter* **

**Itachi: Hey!**

**Miyu: What is it, evil boy with the facial lines? **

**Itachi: You're STEALING **_**my **_**evil laugh!**

**Miyu: Nu-uh!**

**Itachi: Yeah-uh!**

**Miyu: Nu-uh! **

**Sasuke: Bwahahahaha!**

**Itachi and Miyu: NO! **

* * *

_Wake up…Amaya…wake up…_

No, I want to go to sleep.

_Wake up….wake up…_

Five more minutes…

_Amaya…_

ZzZzz…

_AMAYA!_

I scowled and pushed consciousness away. I burrowed my head deeper into the pillow and tried sleep.

_Damn! Why is it so bright? _

I squinted and stared up above me.

_I see…a light!_

Wow. I was actually going to heaven. _Well that'll shock some people. _

_Hey…maybe I'll see my parents._

I was fantasizing about whether or not I would look hot with all white when, with a very un-heaven like sensation, I felt a sharp jab of pain hit me from my leg area, and I was jolted back into reality and all its craziness.

****

Okay, three things that made me absolutely positive this was not one of those freaky reality dreams, but reality in the flesh.

One; the jabbing sensation that was getting stronger and the fact that my left leg no longer responded to me.

Two; the bright light that was dangling in front of me that was actually a very powerful light bulb and not some angel who would escort me up. Well, damn. I wasn't going to heaven!

Three; a strong supply of chakra that I sensed coming from my right.

Well, the jabbing sensation could be taken care of later. I didn't think to look at my leg because I couldn't move right and I felt sort of…drugged. I tasted my tongue curiously. Hm. Definitely some strong drug. The kind that would knock you out for seven hours.

The heaven thing. Yeah. Well, not everybody gets into heaven, right?

The strong supply of chakra. I was pretty sure it was Kakashi. Aw! It was so sweet of him to be waiting for me to wake up! _But why was I sleeping? Did something happen? _I pushed these questions away. I wasn't thinking clearly, the drug had blocked out some of my senses. Instead, I opened my eyes and was going to launch into a 'what the hell is going on' speechwhen instead of meeting Kakashi's warm eyes and his mask-covered face, I came face to face with traditional black eyes and a full, frowning face—all belonging to one Uchiha Sasuke.

"What—" I sat up immediately and took a sharp gust of air. Pain radiated from my leg in all corners and a sudden wave of vertigo made me sway. It felt like a thousand kunai were penetrating my skin and twisting the bone inside…

Sasuke calmly pushed me back down with his finger and handed me a small pill and a glass of water.

"Drink it. It'll help ease the pain." I stared at him suspiciously before doing as told, my muscles feeling oddly unresponsive. _Yeah. Of course. Ease the pain. I don't believe you. It's probably going to make me sprout a male reproductive organ or something. _

"It takes a few minutes for the effect to take place," Sasuke explained, and handed me a bowl of ramen. It was still hot, so whoever had put it there must have been here not so long ago. I swallowed a spoonful, feeling grateful that my senses seemed to be coming back and winced as my leg burst into a sudden spasm of pain.

_Pain…_

Pain. The crack of a broken leg. The warm heat of a blazing fireball. The sound of water spinning through the air. Ice needles pinning someone to a tree…

I inhaled sharply and gripped the sheets. Sasuke stared at me.

"Naruto broke my foot didn't he? Where are the others? Did Naruto get hurt? Did I--?" I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"You didn't kill him. He's fine. He just got a couple of scratches and wounds. You got the worst part; your leg's broken in three places. The medical nins had to knock you out because Kakashi didn't want you feeling any more pain,"

I smiled to myself. At least one person looked out for me. At least one person cared. At least one person didn't plan on killing me just because I could manipulate ice needles…

"Where's Kakashi, anyway?" I asked abruptly. Sasuke looked down. I could tell he hadn't decided to baby-sit me out of the goodness of his heart.

"He's with Naruto and Sakura. They're right outside. I volunteered to stay and wait until you wake up," He said stiffly. I stared up at him. Sasuke? Volunteered? Yeah right. I looked around, half expecting to see some hidden technique on how to kill Itachi imbedded in the corner.

Nothing so far.

"Sasuke, honey, I may have not been here for 24 hours but I know you enough to be sure that you do not exactlylike me," I raised my eyebrows at him, teasing. "Or maybe you've decided that you're in love with me and want to spend every waking moment with me, and then you're going to bow down on one knee and propose?"

He glared at me. I pasted a smug smile on my face. It was pasted on because I was getting tetchy what with all the Uchiha glares.

"No."

"Okay then. That answer was obvious."

"Are you disappointed?" This time, it was him who was teasing, lips turned up into a smirk. This had _got _to be an improvement.

"Of course," I fake sobbed and held my hand against my chest. It was time to put all of those years of boredly reading Kakashi's novels to action. "Oh, Sasuke! How can I ever live without you? How can I ever live without your warm, hot kisses as you deliciously slam your body—"Sasuke held up a finger against my lips, rolling his eyes.

"Who taught you that?" He stared at me, chastising. His upper lip twitched just the teeniest bit. It was obvious he was trying to be cold and aloof again.

"Kakashi," I said innocently.

"Figures," He muttered. I laughed.

"Yeah, well, aside from our _sizzling_ love affair, what was your real purpose on baby-sitting me today?" I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. It was fun playing with Sasuke. I would relate all of these to Sakura later so she would know what to do next time. Well, of course, I'd leave out details so she wouldn't be jealous and think something stupid like me and Sasuke were an item. Hah! Me and Sasuke. What kind of freakin' moron would think that?

He was silent for a while.

"I'm waiting,"

"Fine." He took a deep breath and muttered something that sounded like 'here goes'.

"I just really want to be your friend. I'm sorry for the way I treated you last time. I feel bad and I want to start again."

I stared. There was a lump in my throat. I extended my arm towards him and—

I let out a burst of laughter. He looked sort of offended.

"Oh—my—God! That was—the most horrible—"I took deep breaths and tears rolled down my eyes. My stomach hurt from laughing so much.

"It sucked _that _much?" Sasuke scowled at me and turned to look at the ground.

"Sweetheart, you'll never be able to make it Broadway with _that_," I snorted. "You sounded like a log. No wait. Logs have _way_ more emotion than that. You sounded like a log after it has been hit by a shovel many times,"

He was silent, a sour look crossed his face.

"Well, at least I tried," He muttered.

"Drop it, boy. Whatever it is you want with me, spit it out." I said, still wiping my eyes. I knew Sasuke didn't really want to be my friend, and I had an inkling of what he really wanted…

"A battle."

I paused. We were quiet once more.

"So you pretended to want to be my friend," I glared at him. "So you could get a match with me?"

He hesitated. Then he nodded. When he spoke, it came out fast.

"Sorry." Guess he wasn't used to saying sorry.

"Why didn't you just say so?" I let out a laugh. An idea was forming in my head, and I blessed the Uchiha boy for putting it in there. "I don't mind, Sasuke, really. Well, I'll need to recover first—" I pointed to my leg. "But I promise to get you a match…"

"Great," His eyes brightened and when he smiled at me, I saw the reason behind Sakura's infatuation on him. I shook my head and grinned back.

"But…"

His eyes whipped back at me.

"On one condition." I smirked at him. His eyes danced and there was a glint of mischief in them. I was about to ask why he had that look in his eye.

To my surprise, he leaned closer to me. I froze, not knowing what to do. His hand reached over to gently cup my cheek and tilted my face to his. My skin tingled where he touched them. His black eyes bored into mine. I felt his warm breath sweep over my face. His hand was on the small of my back. One final smirk, he moved even closer and—

"Not _that _kind of condition, you bastard!" I slapped his hand away and moved back. We stared at each other for a few minutes before simultaneously bursting into laughter.

"You liked it, admit," Sasuke grinned at me. I rolled my eyes at him, bumping my shoulder to his, mixing black with black.

"Shut up, Uchiha. You haven't even heard my condition yet,"

"Fine." He sighed and sat next to me. "What?"

"I ask you _any _question _at all_, and you answer all of them honestly. I can ask as many questions as I want, for as long as I want." I said promptly, and flashed myself a "I am such a genius" smile. If I asked him important personal stuff, like, oh, what did he like in a girl, what was his type, and pass them on to Sakura…

I was such a genius!

He looked sort of surprised, but shrugged. "Whatever,"

"Deal?"

"Deal. So…" I looked at him, surprised. What else could he possibly add to this?

"Any chance you might want to continue where we left off?"

"…You are such a turd."

****

_Things to say to Sakura when I get out of here: _

_1. Sasuke likes being teased._

_2. Sasuke teases back._

_3. Sasuke is a big man turd. _

That composed of my list so far.

* * *

**Sasuke's a little OOC here, but remember, he's always finding ways to make himself better than Itachi, and he sees this as an opportunity, so of course he's happy. Well, about the turd thing, well, c'mon, even Uchiha boys have hormones! They just don't show until they're thirty and I got sick of waiting and sped the process up a little. **

**Sasuke: Impatient little girl.**

**Miyu: Shut up. **

**~ Drop me a review and hope you liked reading…!**

**Miyu **


	6. First REALLY WEIRD Mission 1

**Yo yo yo! Sorry it took a long time to update...I was just sorting out some of the kinks in my last chapters. ^_^**

**Hope you have fun reading!**

* * *

Oh, what a _perfect _morning.

The sun was shining, birds were singing, I was going on my first mission as a member of Team 7, Naruto was talking about his dream ("To be Hokage! That's my dream!"), Sakura was complimenting Sasuke ("You look nice today Sasuke…not that you don't look nice everyday, but now you look even nicer than you usually do!"), Sasuke was ignoring everyone, Kakashi was nowhere to be found and here I was, talking about a perfect morning that I had a creeping suspicion did not exist in Squad 7.

Oh, what a _stupid _morning.

"Oh, Kakashi, where art thou?" I grumbled to myself, lest Naruto think Kakashi and I were like Romeo and Juliet. _Speaking of Romeo and Juliet…_

I trained my eyes towards the two who were standing a few feet apart from each other, and smiled to myself. I hadn't even started asking Sasuke embarrassing questions and he and Sakura were already getting along great! Well. They were standing together, (it might have been more romantic if they had been sitting together), but at least they were together (sort of).

_I wonder who Paris is, in this twisted love story? _

Naruto? I looked towards the lovable doofus yelling his Hokage speech at a poor innocent tree.

Hm. Maybe not. It was obvious that the boy got something going on for Sakura, but he was way to concentrated on his becoming Hokage to actually steal Sakura from (an all too willing) Sasuke.

"Hi. Sorry I'm late," I looked up and found Kakashi waving at us. Sasuke rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Kakashi-sensei! So! What's our mission for today?"

"Simple. There are a bunch of old people—"

"Old people…?"

"Let me finish. There are a bunch of old people we're going to meet up that hill. And then—" _We're going to give them a bath, aren't we? _

Welcome… to the Pit of Emoness.

"We're going to escort them through the forest to get to the other side of town. That's it," _Oh. Well. At least there's no soap involved. _

I was just clearing my head of the (gross) image of me scrubbing the back of some creepy old wrinkly perv man, when Sasuke asked a question.

"Why old people?" He looked sort of impatient. "Why not middle-aged people or kids?"

"To slow us down," I muttered and glared at Kakashi. He smiled and patted my head.

"Of course!" Sakura exclaimed.

"You guys will need patience and tolerance for this. I don't want a single scratch on those old people, you hear me? You can't leave your oldie behind, and you can't carry them either. There are going to be obstacles, of course, and you are going to have to get past them and protect your old person at the same time," Kakashi explained.

_Great. Just what I need. Old people. Seriously _slow_ old people. Woohoo._

"How old we talkin' about? Senior? Mummies?" I frowned a little. Kakashi laughed and shook his head.

"Senior. Strictly seventy and above,"

Naruto groaned. I could see he didn't see the point in this at all. Well that made two of us.

"This is going to teach you patience and tolerance. And also strategy. You're going to feel handicapped and slow, but I want you to find a way to go faster without harming your load. I want you guys to know what it's like to be handicapped and to overcome that handicap. Just think of these old people as obstacles themselves," Kakashi's serious voice turned joking. It was obvious he was trying to be stern. "Of course, you are not allowed to hit them, yell at them, or damage them in any way possible. Be _polite_, these are old people we're dealing with,"

"Got it!"

"Hai,"

"Okay,"

"Fine,"

_Get ready, old people. Squad Seven is here to bring you through the forest even if it takes us (dramatic paus)--FOREVER._

Who am I kidding. Bring out the white flag.

****

"We're here!" Kakashi announced. We stopped.

We were in the middle of a small hill, which seemed to be the sun's concentration right now. We were sweating buckets. Konoha would be flooded soon.

There was a thick forest in front of us. No old people were in sight.

"So…" Naruto scuffed his shoe, looking around. "Where are they?"

Kakashi frowned. "They seem to be late,"

"Looks like they learned something from you," Sasuke commented. Sakura was fanning herself. I looked around, frowning. I couldn't find any body of water big enough for a strong water attack. Damn it. Guess I was stuck with ice needles and Taijutsu.

After what seemed like an eternity and three hundred years (twelve minutes and nineteen seconds, I know, can you believe it?) I spotted something hobbling towards us.

"Hey…I see something," I motioned towards them. Together we watched the extremely slow progress of four people and their canes.

Two minutes…

Three minutes…

Five minutes…

And they were no nearer to us than they were before.

"This is going to take forever," Naruto groaned quietly. Kakashi elbowed him.

"Shut up and smile," Our eyes twitched, but we managed a weird, wide, smile each. Sasuke didn't even try to smile. Kakashi's smile wasn't visible. Stupid mask.

"GoodMORNING old PEOPLE! I am NARUTO UzuMAKI! We are here to ESCORT you through the FOREST!" Naruto yelled when they were close enough (which wasn't really close at all).

I didn't KNOW why he was SHOUTING but I realized they might be DEAF.

"Calm down, young man, we're not deaf," An old woman said hesitantly. The old man next to her elbowed her. The old woman frowned and adopted a face so sour even Sasuke moved back a couple of steps.

"I am Ten," The old woman said.

"Name's Jenny," The old man replied crossly. We stared at him.

"I didn't choose my name, alright?!"

"…Okay."

"And I am…Liam!" The second old man looked a little _too _enthusiastic to be over seventy. I peered at him. He coughed.

There was a last, sort of confused looking, old man that was the crankiest of them all.

"My name's Lance and I won't be taking this crap from you!"

**(A/N: Haha, Lance is this guy at my school who I really want to shoot, so this is sort of my Web revenge. ^_^) **

_Ten, Jenny, Liam and Lance. This has got to be weirdest batch of old people I have ever seen. _

"Hi," Kakashi began. "I'm Hatake Kakashi,"

"UzuMAKI NaruTO," _Bless the little boy's heart. _

"Haruna Sakura,"

"Uchiha Sasuke,"

"Hatake Amaya," I finished. I was starting to think this would be harder than it appeared. Also, I was starting to get the impression I would not get out of here with my sanity intact.

"Great! Now," Kakashi rubbed his hands together.

"Naruto with Lance," Naruto grinned enthusiastically and danced around his partner/victim.

"Liam with Sakura," Sakura rubbed her arm as Liam moved just a little _too _close. I snickered lightly.

"Ten with Sasuke,"

Oh. So that left me with…

"And Jenny with Amaya."

"O-kay! Let's start!" Liam screamed, punching the air with his fist.

More staring.

* * *

**XD The old people's names remind you of anything? First one to guess gets a cookie! It's pretty obvious, mind you. But that's only if you turn everything upside down and look it up outside in, ^_^.**

**Million Thankies to those who reviewed!**

**Drop me a review and hope you liked reading…!**

**~Miyu**


	7. First REALLy WEIRD Mission 2

**Yo yo yo again! Wooohooo! Two chapters in one day...er, night. I've had this chappie in my computer for a few days (sorry about not updating fast) but the exams got in the way. Darn you, SCHOOL!**

**^_^**

* * *

It was so quiet.

Leaves rustled as we walked. Tree branches swayed. The wind whistled. It was quiet…peaceful…

It was _torture_.

"So…" I cleared my throat, breaking the horrible, heavy silence. Jenny the old Man didn't seem to hear.

I huffed quietly to myself. We had been walking for over fifteen minutes and no obstacles were jumping out to surprise us (yet). Also, Grandpa Jenny (it sounds weird) had been walking so slow I could still see Kakashi reading that book of his. And I could still hear Naruto, who it seems was having as much trouble as I was.

"COME ON, OLD MAN, MOVE IT!"

"You shut up!"

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Please?"

"No!"

"Man, you old people suck."

I laughed quietly to myself.

A rustle to my right caught my attention.

Immediately, I adjusted my stance so that GP (Grandpa) Jenny was behind me. I narrowed my eyes and my hand tensed over the pouch of water I had gotten from my bag earlier before Kakashi had given the go signal.

_Here we go!_

_****_

**NARRATOR'S POV **

Amaya watched in wide eyed apprehension as a something white began floating nearer and nearer. Wind started blowing in all directions.

_Illusion…or Mist Ninja?_

"Stay _here_," Amaya snapped at Grandpa Jenny and rushed off. She ran faster, and trained her eyes directly at the floating being's jaw. She felt like she was fighting with the wind. Kicking it as hard as she could, her eyes widened as she felt herself go through thin air. The mist thing let out a laugh. Amaya skidded her foot just in time to avoid banging into a tree.

_Illusion_.

Amaya took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and did her hand signs. A blue glow of chakra slowly blew out from her. A frown creased her brow as she sensed the illusion floating nearer and nearer to GP Jenny.

_Out…._

_In!_

With a quick burst, the chakra was hauled back in, and the white mist being exploded.

Coughing, Amaya waved the dust from her eyes. She ran towards the old man, who was coughing slightly and took his arm gently in hers.

"Are you okay?" She asked. _Wow. Being nice feels…weird. _

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Okay then," Amaya shrugged and walked on, tightening her pouch and bringing out a kunai with an exploding tag attached. She paused. She could sense several chakra energy flows within ten meters coming from their front. _Twenty or thirty of them. _

Closing her eyes, Amaya gritted her teeth. She quickly grabbed the old man's arm and jumped off to hide him in the highest branch of a tree.

"Don't fall out," She pleaded. That was the last thing she needed. Climbing up higher, Amaya bit the kunai between her teeth and brought out a large shuriken. She tensed. Ninjas began spreading slowly out beneath them, creating an arc.

The kunai shot out first, silent until it reached its target. Dust filled the air as the explosion consumed them, and Amaya took her chance. She squinted and swung as hard as she could, taking down three.

Quickly, Amaya dropped herself down the nearest one. Yells filled the air. Amaya took down five, spinning in and out of the crowd.

"Come on! I need—" Amaya grunted as one hit her stomach and retaliated as she kicked him, sending him flying into a tree. She jumped out of the way as several kunai flew past, gritting her teeth.

"Need some help?"

Amaya looked up in surprise. Sasuke smirked at her. He was lounging on the tops of one of the trees.

"No, I don't need your help!" Amaya growled, kicking three ninjas out of the way. With a childish humph, she lifted a large rock and threw it spinning at Sasuke.

Sasuke snickered, shot a shuriken at the rock before it could seriously damage his eyes, and jumped off the tree.

Amaya scowled.

"Slow down! You're leaving Grandma Ten behind!" Amaya smiled apologetically at the old woman, who looked sort of overwhelmed. Amaya blocked the arm of one ninja who was trying to bitch-slap her and gently pushed the old woman on her way.

"Sorry, ma'am. Sasuke doesn't mean to be a turd, it's just how he is," The old lady smiled understandingly and hobbled on her way, pausing only to peer at GP Jenny.

"Oh, man," Amaya gritted her teeth. Shuriken flew in all directions. She fell backwards as somebody punched her gut. Wiping blood from her mouth, she quickly got up.

Amaya closed her eyes. She could see the medical ninja scrolls in her mind. The chakra gates…the muscles…the tendons.

With a series of quick jabs, Amaya brought down the nearest one, and another one to her right.

_Leg muscle…joint…tendon… _

She was just about to bring down another one when a sharp pain on her waist sent her spinning to the other side.

_Oh, hell no. _Amaya stared at her waist. A kunai protruded out, causing blood to trickle from the wound. _It's not too deep. But it's going to cause a lot of muscle strain when I bring chakra out of me._

_I thank Tsunade-sensei for teaching me this._

Amaya reached out a trembling hand and concentrated. A green glow began forming on her fingers.

Before she could finish healing herself, a shuriken hit her left arm, leaving several deep cuts. The green glow disappeared. Eyes wide with anger, Amaya wiped the blood off, wincing as she felt her waist sway. She narrowed her violet eyes, debating. There were ten left. Too much for Taijutsu, given the state she was in. Sensatsu Suishou (ice needles)? It was worth a try.

She sloshed some water from her pouch as fast as she could, and raised her leg to give a good kick, tensing as her foot made contact with the water.

A thousand ice needles, poised and ready to attack floated above her. Amaya moved back a step, raising her good arm to move the ice needles. She quickly moved closer to GP Jenny, who was watching her with interested eyes. The ice needles swirled around, forming a wide, protective circle around the tree.

_Three more are hiding….4 degrees to the left. _

Amaya narrowed her eyes and moved her little finger to the left. Five ice needles cracked and split themselves into ten, aiming themselves directly 4 degrees to the left.

Wincing as the kunai twisted something, Amaya unleashed the needles with full force, moving her arm to shoot them in all directions. In similarity, several large windmill shuriken spun her way.

"Kawarimi no jutsu!"

Amaya finished her hand signs just in time to leave a block of wood in her place. The black ninjas were not so lucky. She went fast, grabbed an unresisting GP Jenny and they began walking again, leaving the unconscious ninjas behind.

****

**AMAYA'S POV**

"Give me a sec," I narrowed my violet eyes and let out a slow gust of air as the green chakra fixed my wound. There!

"Now," I wiped the blood from my mouth and smiled up at GP Jenny. "What were you saying?"

He frowned and shook his head.

Oh. Okay. Won't speak. Huh.

I sighed, exasperated. He rolled his eyes and pointed to what seemed to be something blue—and—

"A lake!" I let out a happy yell, ran up to the smooth surface and let my fingers trail over. It was a large lake. Water drops trickled off my fingers, glittering as the sun shone on them.

I had to squash the urge to strip down to my underwear and submerge into the coolness. I still didn't know if this Jenny man wasn't a seventy-year old pervert.

_Oh, well. Next time. _

A rustle of leaves.

_Oh, great. Not again!_

"Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu!"

Without thinking, I did my hand signs quickly, summoning the water from the lake to form a giant pillar and sent it spinning towards my right where the sound came from. **(A/N: I know this jutsu requires a large amount of water and it's a devastating jutsu, I just got a whim to use it ^_^ sorry, minna!) **

"Amaya!"

_Oh. _

….Oops.

****

"Yeah, thanks, I already took a bath," Kakashi glared at me, wringing his hands and splashing water everywhere. He had managed to deflect the water pillar just in time but the effect was instantaneous—he was wet all over.

I grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of my head. How was I supposed to know Grandpa Jenny wasn't pointing towards the lake like I thought but towards the view of the other side of town, meaning we had reached our destination?

"Sorry, Kaka-kun." I squealed as he jokingly shot a jab of water towards me. Jabs of water started flying around, wetting us both while Grandpa Jenny watched curiously.

"Where are the others?" I grinned, wringing my hair out and making a large splash sound.

"They should have been back right about—oh, look, there's Sasuke."

I lifted my eyes off the ground and stared coolly at Sasuke. He didn't appear to have suffered from anything. Grandma Ten was right behind him, appraising Kakashi and I with eyes that were a light, pretty shade of brown.

"Why are you guys wet? Big swimming party, huh?" Sasuke walked over, hands in his pockets. I grinned, moving my fingers. The lake water lapped around. Sasuke's eyes widened as a torrent of water dropped on him.

"....Wow. Thanks. This is really…refreshing,"

I grinned and let out a small snicker. Kakashi laughed.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

We turned around to see Sakura walking fast. Practically glued to her was Liam. He had cute little hearts pasted on his face and he was looking at Sakura as if the sun rose and set on the girl. Hm. Sasuke should take lessons from him.

"We're done! I'm done! He's done! The mission's done! Right?!" Sakura's eye twitched, obviously wanting to get rid of Liam as fast as possible. I let out a laugh and moved closer to the old man.

"This way, sir," I took his arm gently and danced our way towards Jenny and Ten.

"There! Now, where's Naruto…?" Kakashi squinted, scanning the horizon.

There came a….

Small…

Blonde…

Shape…

"I'm HERE!" Naruto wheezed. He dropped on his knees and crawled towards Kakashi. I gotta say, he looked pitiful.

"That's great, Naruto, but where's your old man? Where's Lance?" Kakashi squinted. I patted Naruto's head.

We squinted at the horizon. We looked like five ninjas in desperate need of glasses.

"I'm here, you young people! I came as fast as I could! I was….LIGHTNING! Wooosh! Faster than light! I am….Lightning Lance!"

_What I'd tell ya? These old men were crazy. Insane. Off their rockers. Lost their marbles. Seeing flying cheese. Thinking they're back in World War 1. Calling themselves Lightning Lance. _

"See?! He's in-sane! Insane I tell you!" Naruto wheezed, fell backwards and let out a cough. "Half the time he was talking about some girl called Maria and half the other time he was hitting me with a stick!"

I suddenly appreciated Non-Talking Jenny.

"Okay, Naruto. We get your point. Now, congratulations on making it past your mission," Kakashi grinned at all of us. "Now, ramen on me!"

"Awesome!"

"Yay!"

"Great,"

I stared curiously at the Ten, Jenny, and Liam. There was something about them…

_That hairstyle…_

_Jenny…_

_Li…am._

"Hey, Amaya! You coming or what? We're going to go meet Gai-sensei at the Ramen Shop!"

Gai-sensei….

I froze and stared at Kakashi. He smiled back at me same time Sasuke smiled his I-know-everything-smile.

"You got it, kiddo,"

The three old people suddenly exploded and in their places were Ten Ten, Neji, and Lee.

"WHAT?!"

"Hi!" Ten Ten smiled at me. I grinned back. I had met their team a few months before I grouped up with Squad 7, while I had been walking around town.

Neji walked forward and said a small 'hi'. Lee kissed my hand, but that was Lee. Nothing weird going on. For Lee.

"This, actually, was our mission," Neji explained in his matter-of-fact-tone. "Gai-sensei wanted to teach us the _life and death importance of knowing how to fully disguise yourself that other ninja friends do not even recognize you_. So we disguised as old people, and, fortunately, we found an opening in your mission,"

_Of course! _

_Ten= Ten Ten_

_LIam= Lee_

_Jenny= _

...

I burst into laughter.

"JENNY?!"

"...It was Gai-sensei."

More laughing.

"Wait...so if Ten is Ten Ten...Liam is Lee...and Jenny is...pfft...Neji...then...who's Lance?"

We all turned to Kakashi.

"I don't...exactly know."

* * *

**Yeah, XD. Jenny, Neji. It was supposed to be Jeni, but then it would be sort of obvious ^_^. **

**Yeah, Lance is an outsider. Poor Naruto. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed reading and drop me a review...! **

**~Miyu **


	8. Sasu vs Maya!

**Hey! Thanks so much to those who reviewed! Oh yeah, I edited a small part of Chapter 7, just the ending, so y'all might want to take a look there. ^_^ **

**Some sibling love (not talking about incest, people!) at the end of chapter. Just, you know, Kakashi and Amaya shakin' up some drama. Oh, and I added a little Itachi and Sasuke twistie at the end. ^_^**

**I know, the fighting stuff gets kind of tiring. This chapter wasn't the easiest to write, but I had to have at least one chapter of Sasu vs Maya. But don't worry! Next chapter won't contain any fighting at all. Not counting bickering and bitch-slapping, of course.**

**Have fun reading, minna! **

**^_^.**

* * *

"I will never…be able…to eat…another bowl…of ramen…again."

I groaned, clutching my stomach. Last night, eight bowls of ramen had seemed like a good idea.

Now? Not so much.

Naruto let out a groan of agreement. He was lying on the ground not three feet from me, waving a leaf taped to a stick. It wasn't exactly a white flag, but it was the best he could do. Besides, a stick and a leaf were the only things near enough without us having to walk. I didn't know where he got the tape.

Sakura and Sasuke stared bemusedly at us. _Probably debating which to make fun of first_.

"Are you okay, Amaya-chan?" Sakura moved over and put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." I took a deep breath and got up. I was just about to moan about how much my stomach hurt when I suddenly thought of ramen…and the amount of calories ramen contained.

"OH MY GOD! I'm FAT!" I squealed and tugged my white shirt up, displaying my flat, cream stomach. I let out another squeal, not noticing how fast Sasuke's eyes went from me to the tree. I had a notorious and well known phobia of getting fat. I wasn't like Ino (my vanity was limited), but I was still fat-conscious.

And well, I had a good reason to be. As a kid I was extremely fat and kids teased me. They called me "Amaya the _Ball_." Yes, those were sad times.

"I've got to burn this off!" I sucked in every loose part of me. I could actually _feel _myself getting fatter. I suddenly had a horrible fat vision of me with little chubby legs and little chubby arms. I began running around and around in circles. Sweat drops formed.

"_This_," I puffed. "Is why I never eat more than three bowls of ramen!"

"Burning off calories, is she?" Kakashi came into the view, hands in his suspiciously bulging pockets and a smug smile on his face.

"Yes," Three voices chimed in. _Traitors_.

"She used to be this little fatso when she was a kid," Kakashi mimed a giant sumo wrestler and blew out his cheeks. I growled at him. _Okay, I know I was fat, no need to rub it in, Oh-thin-Kakashi._

"She was the fattest kid in class," Kakashi wiped a tear from his eye. "I remember the time when they had a running contest and it took her fifteen minutes to get five meters from the starting point…"

I ignored their snickers, running faster and faster in a tight, dizzying circle before Kakashi finally stuck his arm out and pulled.

"You'll need those calories for the training you guys are going to have later on," He patted my head. I let out a little humph sound. Naruto was still laughing.

"Really, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto let out another laugh, still probably enjoying the image of Amaya the Ball. Jerk. "But she's so slim now! How'd that happen?" I tried not to get conscious as I felt Naruto's eyes combing me. I was surprised to see Sasuke looking, too. _Good God, I've become an exhibit. _I wanted to push Sakura in front of the two of them and yell "Hey, she has curves too!"

"When she turned seven that was the time she met Yuri," Kakashi grinned. "Enough said."

I tried not to wince as I felt another blow to my stomach. _Which reminds me…_

"Hey, Anniki, I bet you're all broke now," I smirked at him. His smug smile widened and he shook his head.

"What do you mean? Naruto had like, twenty-four bowls. Sasuke had five, Sakura had three and you had fifteen. Plus my eight. And you paid for all of that!" I watched in amazement as a gloating Kakashi pulled out wads of the green stuff from his pockets. He waved the money in front of me. Naruto peered at the money and put one up against the sun.

"Maybe it's fake…" He muttered. Sasuke picked one up and examined it boredly. Sakura caught one flying in the breeze. I caught them all sneakily stuffing the money into their pockets. _Hey_.

"Gai and I had a bet that you guys would figure out that his students were the old people before we reached the Ramen Shop. He bet you wouldn't. I bet you would. I won," He said gleefully, throwing cash in the air. I caught handfuls of it and stuffed it down my black shorts. _Hee hee. _

"How much did you win?"

"…" Wordlessly, Kakashi handed me a note.

"That's a lot of zeroes."

****

"Okay, let's start!" Kakashi clapped his hands. We gathered closer to each other.

"I want you guys to get trained up and good before your next mission. So…"

"Sakura and Naruto," Sakura groaned as she and Naruto moved towards the empty clearing.

I closed one eye.

"Amaya, I'm putting you up against Sasuke. Go easy on each other." He patted me and Sasuke and pushed us towards the half part of the empty clearing. I slung my pouch over my head, sloshing the water inside.

"You ready for me?" I called out to Sasuke, who rolled his eyes, the corner of his lip twitching. We stood about twenty meters apart. I slid my left leg further a little and adjusted my stance. Sasuke tensed, hand hesitating.

"Go!" Kakashi's voice rang. I could hear the whiz of a kunai and the sound of a branch breaking as someone stepped on it.

_Woosh! _I had barely enough time to duck as three shuriken came rushing by.

_Great. Focus, Amaya. _

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!" I did my hand signs quickly, and ran towards Sasuke, accompanied by seven more Amayas. I shot out a kunai. The attached exploding note whistled in the breeze. Dust settled as I saw a whizzing shape running towards me. I squinted, gave a yelp, and blocked Sasuke's arm just in time. I weaved and ducked his punches and kicks. He was trying that Lion Combo on me!

_Damn it. I have to avoid getting hit even once, or else I'm going down! _

It felt like my stomach was being stepped on when Sasuke's fist shot out and punched it hard. I landed on dirt, wincing as I felt blood trickle from my mouth. Grimacing, I squinted as a rain of punches hit me from what seemed all directions. I managed to block a few, but my legs were giving in under the blows. _I'll be lucky to get out of here with all my vital organs still intact_.

Biting my lip, I dodged a kick, jabbed Sasuke's thighs where I knew most of the muscles being used for moving were, careful not to hit his muscles too hard. The effect would last only for five minutes, but he would not be able to move. Well, he would, but it would hurt a lot. I wiped the blood from my mouth.

I jumped high off the tops of the trees, hopefully long enough that he had lost track of me, and hid myself in the leaves, careful not to make a sound. Quietly, I did my hand signs and sent three clones towards other trees. I peered towards Sasuke. He was moving his foot, wincing a little. After less than a minute he shook his leg out and with a grim, triumphant smile, he was walking again. Okay, so he had a limp.

My clones lashed out, and they were gone within minutes.

_I didn't know he was this good. _

My forehead creased as I considered. He would hear the splash of the water if I tried ice needles. There wasn't a big enough source of water for anything strong. He was too agile for kunai. I closed my eyes. This was so not good for my stress levels.

_Maybe if I—_

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fireball Technique)!" Sasuke jumped agilely from a tree, blowing a huge gust of fire towards me. I could feel the warmth already.

_Oh, no hell, shit! My hair!_

"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" I dropped out of the tree, leaving an exploding pouch behind. The loud sound should have masked me, but I quickly spotted Sasuke running towards my general direction.

_Boy just never gives up. _

I gritted my teeth, and as soon as he got near, I aimed a quick kick at his jaw, but he recovered soon enough and punched my stomach. Growling, I aimed a couple of punches and kicks at his jaw and the general waist area, managing to knock him down. He wiped blood from his mouth. Before I could react, he had gotten up and aimed a strong blow to my stomach.

I winced, my legs trembling. I knew why he kept aiming for my stomach. I took quick breaths. He knew it would be painful for me to breathe, let alone unleash enough chakra for a strong attack.

His leg shot out and kicked my back. I landed on the ground with a painful thump, breathing hard.

_Sorry Sasuke. _

I whipped out a kunai and slashed his hand, leaving a deep, red line behind. Before I could hesitate, I sloshed the water out, and gave it a good kick. As the ice needles formed, I could see the look of intense concentration on Sasuke's face. He had activated his sharingan and was obviously looking for a way out. He moved quicker than possible, and knocked me down, a kunai in one hand. I felt a familiar twinge—knee jerk reaction. It took all I had not to finish him off, and the ice needles were already moving forward, but as soon as I started falling, I forced my chakra to come back and the ice needles started melting. But I kept the biggest, sharpest of them all.

So we were positioned there. Me, lying on the ground with a kunai poised in front of my stomach. Sasuke, in front, crouched, with an ice needle poised at the back of his neck. We breathed heavily, waiting for one to make a move.

"What do you call this?" He asked me, his bangs falling in front of his face.

"I call it a TIE!" Kakashi appeared, hands on hips. "A draw. Equals. I told you guys to go easy on each other, not build coffins for each other!"

He walked over, grabbed the kunai from Sasuke, and I automatically pulled the ice needle away, leaving it to melt on the ground.

We grinned sheepishly at him. His eye twitched, then he started walking away, calling behind his back.

"Next time, I am going to put both of against trees."

"…Trees?"

*****

I breathed in the sweet scent of wet grass and stared up at the moon. Smiling to myself, I walked towards a familiar shape standing against the silver light.

"Hi," I stopped next to him.

He didn't say anything.

"Aw, Kakashi. Don't tell me you're still mad?" I pouted at him and tugged at his arm. He relented, patting my head.

"Why are you so angry, anyway?" I looked down at the dewdrops, dragging my finger across them.

He was silent. I waited for a few minutes, staring up at the moon.

"When I saw you out there with Sasuke," He paused. I waited.

"I got worried." He shrugged. I started to grin, bumping my shoulder to his.

"Of course I got worried," I heard the emotion in his voice and tried not to choke on the lump in my throat. "You're the little sister I never had. I'm not supposed to dance around happily when you die."

_Maybe this is how it feels like to have a family. _

We looked towards the stars decorating the sky.

"Kakashi?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"'S alright."

Silence.

"Kakashi?"

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?"

"Yes, but don't expect to be put up against a real person in a long time,"

"Konoha will have run out of trees by next month,"

"Atta girl."

*****

_They're close_. Black orbs observed the two siblings.

Unbeknownst to the small Uchiha, a small sad smile had appeared on his face.

_What happened to us, Itachi? _

* * *

**Aw… ^_^ **

**Tune in next chappie!!! They're going to a fair! **

**Sasuke: Way to spoil the surprise, Miyu-chan. **

**Reviewers get a Sasuke each!**

**Sasuke: NANI?!**

**:Drop me a review and get your Sasuke…! He comes in different colors! XD**

**~Miyu **


	9. Day At The FairPart 1

**Woot! Woot! 9th chappie! Haha. **

**Hope you enjoy reading, minna. ^_^**

* * *

"Would somebody _please _tell me why we are climbing _hills_?"

"To get to a place,"

"…Have mercy on us, Kakashi. Be more specific."

"It's not so far anymore."

I sighed, shook my head, and took a big gulp of water. We had been climbing since we got up (Hell must truly be freezing over because Kakashi had been early two times in a row), and after what seemed like hours of asking Kakashi where we were heading, we knew as much as when we had started.

I looked over my shoulder. Naruto was bouncing here and there and asking questions to a tiring Kakashi. Sakura was looking up at the sky with a sort of bright interest. Sasuke was looking down at the ground with no interest at all.

_You'd think that after almost puncturing a hole in my stomach Sasuke'd be happy. But no, he's off being the team's emotional turd again. Ass. _

I tied my hair up into a bun, letting some of the violet-and-black strands fall forward. Blinking through my bangs, I smoothed down my short blue dress that was slit up my thigh, fingering the black belt that held most of my stuff.

Digging through my bag, I brought out my fishnet arm warmers and put them on. Unfortunately, I had lagged behind and I was now walking on a level with Sasuke. _Oh well. There are some tragedies in life you just can't avoid, so might as well just bang right into them_.

"What was your mother's name, Sasuke?" I asked absentmindedly, yawning at the warmth of the sun. He was caught off guard with my question, and it took him a long time to reply. When he did, it came out like a grunt.

"Mikoto." Then as a sudden afterthought, he added. "I look like her,"

"Oh," I blinked and smiled. I could suddenly imagine a pretty mom version of Sasuke. "That's nice," I said absently.

"So, who does your father look like?" I prompted. I had a warm vision of four black-haired Uchihas all grouped into one dining room. The father was reading the paper. Itachi was holding a pocky stick (everybody likes pocky) above a little Sasuke, who was reaching up and squirming to get it with a small pout on his face. Mikoto was smiling at her family, her happy little family. This gave me a hollow sort of feeling, and I tossed the thought out of my mind like a hot coal.

"I bet you and Itachi were always getting into fights," I said playfully, looking towards Sasuke when I said this. I noticed with a sharp stab of guilt that his eyes were closed and the corner of his mouth was turned down.

He reminded me of myself whenever anyone asked about my parents or my siblings. The impact that they were gone hit me harder each time, and the pain that I had never, and would never see them was deep.

_Well nice going, Ms. Sensitive_.

Oh. Oh. Right.

"Look, Sasuke, I—" I choked on my words.

I swallowed noisily and tried again.

"I'm really sorry," I said in a rush. "I shouldn't have asked about your parents."

He was silent for a moment. When he opened his eyes, I noticed that the black was kind of misty, as if he was holding back tears. He blinked, and the mist was gone.

"It's alright."

We walked in silence throughout the entire journey. Strangely, I felt like crying when I saw Kakashi's silver hair moving in front of us.

*****

"We're here!"

We looked around blankly. We stared back at Kakashi. He grinned, pointing down the cliff we were standing on. We looked down. Naruto let out a happy shriek.

Below us was a colourful array of tents, several rides, and all sorts of people milling around, eating cotton candy. I let out a small laugh when I saw a small bookstore smack right at the centre. I had a feeling Kakashi would go home with several new volumes of Icha Icha Paradise when we were done here.

"Kaka!" I ran over to hug his waist. He grinned and patted my head. Turning around, he explained to us.

"The other Team Leaders and I decided to give you guys a break. We heard that there was this big fair in town coming along, so we decided to spend the day here" He gestured. "The others should already be down there and—Naruto! Naruto wait!"

"…Where's Amaya?"

"…God, no."

"MEET YOU DOWN THERE!" I called over my shoulders, dragging Sasuke with me. He protested, but I put him in front of me, and when he was gathering just enough speed, I jumped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Amaya!" Sasuke was laughing.

"…Well, did you expect me to _walk_?"

*****

We slowed down a few inches from where Naruto and a whole array of teens were, breathless from the trek down the mountain. I spotted Ten Ten, Neji and Lee smiling at the two of us.

Grinning, I dismounted from Sasuke's back, and resumed my place next to him, wondering why everyone was staring at me. It was still considered rude to stare at people, wasn't it? Didn't that apply to me anymore?

"THIS IS THE FLOWER OF ULTIMATE YOUTH I WAS TALKING ABOUT! LOOK AT HER! SUCH BEAUTY! SUCH DIVINE RADIANCE! THE SUN SHINES UPON HER YOUNG FACE WITH A GRACE NOT EVEN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER CAN MATCH!"

"Shut up, Lee," I had a big sweat drop on my face. _Jesus, Gai-sensei, what have you been doing to this boy? _

"SASUKE-KUN! HI!" I was pushed aside as something blonde with arms and legs attacked Sasuke. I blinked, and tried to catch my balance. Neji's arm shot out and steadied me.

"Thanks," I grinned, and turned my stare back to the blonde girl. She was really pretty, with blue eyes and a giant smile. Obviously, she also had some kind of thing going on for Sasuke. _God. How many Sasuke fangirls are there? Isn't there some kind of limit? _

"Yakamana Ino," She smiled at me, friendly enough, but I could see something—a sort of possessiveness about her when it came to Sasuke. _Well, hell, she could have him if she wanted! I wasn't going to dedicate my time on pinning Sasuke as 'Mine'. _

"These are my teammates," She gestured to a sort of cute, lazy- looking guy with brown hair, and another cute guy, only this time, he wasn't crush material-cute, he was fat-cute, as in _round_. Circular. Spherical. Whatever ya'd like to call it.

"Nara Shikamaru," The brown-haired, lazy-looking guy yawned.

"Akimichi Choji," Roundy said cheerfully.

"Hi," I flashed them all a small smile. "Hatake Amaya," They all stopped whatever they were doing and stared at me in confusion. Great, here we go again. _How many times, people? I am NOT married to Kakashi. _

"H-hyuuga Hinata," I looked to my left and was met with the most adorable girl ever. Her eyes were silver. Her haircut was…kind of weird, but whatever. She looked so young and shy. Hyuuga? Was she related to Neji? Well that explained the eyes.

"Hi, Hinata-chan," I waved hello to the two guys standing next to her.

"Aburame Shino," This one had brown hair too (God, wasn't there some kind of limit to the brown-haired guys in Konoha?), and big round black sunglasses and a high collar.

"Inuzuka Kiba," Was that…war paint?

"And this is Akamaru," War Paint Guy pointed to a cute, little white dog who was barking like crazy at me. I picked Akamaru up and kissed his nose. They watched me. I felt Sasuke shift beside me, so that he was partially covering my leg. _Oh, shit, right. I'm wearing a dress_. I tugged the slit of my dress down and tried to look inconspicuous.

"So, Amaya-chan. What is your connection to Hatake Kakashi?" Shino asked.

"Adopted sister." I paused. "I'm his adopted sister."

I noticed Sakura had joined us, and she and Ino were having some sort of Sasuke-is-mine-glaring battle. Well, they weren't as good as Sasuke (I think glaring is some kind of Uchiha technique), but you couldactually_ see_ electricity flashing between them, so yeah, I give them an 8.

"This place is awesome!" Naruto popped out of nowhere, with his mouth full of food and his hands carrying all sorts of stuff.

"Slow down with the spending, Naruto," Kakashi walked over to us, hands in his pockets. "We meet back here after the day. Okay?"

"Hai!" We all chimed in.

"Okay. So now, I am going to go buy the new Icha Icha Paradise book—ahem, I mean, look for Gai and Kurenai," With a small wave, I watched as Kakashi disappeared into the book shop "looking for Gai and Kurenai". The group started dismantling.

I turned back towards Sasuke and stifled a snort of laughter. Ino and Sakura were tugging both his arms and he was looking sort of disgruntled. I went over to pat his head and gloat my freedom as the two girls quit trying to split Sasuke in two and instead, started shouting at each other ("Forehead Girl!" "Ino-pig!").

"Must be nice to have such devoted fangirls," I smirked at the two. Sasuke scowled.

"Hey, do you want to go get cotton candy or something—" I started.

"Maya!" Ten Ten called, beckoning me with her arm. Hinata was with her too. "C'mon!"

"Bye, Sasuke," Hurriedly, I planted a small kiss on his temple and ran towards the two, who were gaping at me as if I'd just given birth to a litter of flying pigs.

_Giving birth, my butt. They're looking at me as _I'm _the flying pig_.

*****

**SASUKE'S POV:**

"Hey do you want to go get cotton candy or something—" Amaya cut off as Ten Ten called her over, beckoning with her arm. I was about to say goodbye when she whirled around to face me.

"Bye, Sasuke," My eyes went wide as I felt her press her lips against my temple. My skin tingled where she touched them. Two identical small pinpricks of red dotted my cheeks.

_What…did she just do?_

Motionless, I watched her race off with her friends, her black/purple hair swinging in the breeze. My hand wandered to my temple as I walked towards a food stand where I spotted a tomato, leaving Ino and Sakura behind.

****

**NARRATOR'S POV**

"What do you think of Amaya-chan?" Choji asked, nodding to the general direction of the grinning Amaya. Shino deliberated for a few seconds before giving his Shino Observation.

"She's one hot chick," He muttered finally. Neji, who was nearby, rolled his eyes. **(A/N: I don't actually know if Neji can roll his eyes XD)**.

"Great hair. Violet eyes. Even greater legs. A nice shape and a pretty face." The pony tailed guy shrugged his shoulders **(A/N: BTW, Shikamaru kinda reminds me of Sokka ^_^)**. Shikamaru observed her features, and couldn't help but agree with Lee's (weird) introduction earlier. The girl had a beauty about her. "She even looks tough enough to be kind of not troublesome." He sighed. "But whatever. It looks like Sasuke has his eye on her. Well this would be a first," He walked off towards a small empty spot on the grass where there was a view of the clouds, perfect, if you wanted to comment on how free they were.

Amaya ran past, lugging Ten Ten behind, her violet eyes bright with excitement. Hinata was running too, her cheeks red. Together, they went inside a shop. There were several female clothing items outside on display. Kiba watched in interest as Naruto ran past, stuffing his mouth with food and yelling for water. Sasuke walked past, munching on a tomato. Kakashi was visible from the book shop, leafing through the familiar orange book. Gai and Lee were dancing under a tree, yelling some crap about youth and beauty. Kurenai was arguing about makeup with a vendor. They could hear Sakura and Ino arguing from not far away. Akamaru started barking.

Neji rolled his eyes yet again.

The day had just begun.

* * *

**Next chappie will be a continuation of their day at the fair, and there will be a juicy SasuXMaya moment at the ending. ^_^ **

**Man I love spoilers….XD **

**Drop me a review and you get…erm…a Kakashi each! (I dunno about you guys but I think Kakashi is kinda hot) **

**Kakashi: …What?!**

**Sasuke: …What?!**

…**What? (the guilty kind of what).**

**Drop me a review and hope you liked reading…!**

**~Miyu **

**PS: I'm thinking of changing my name to ImbecillesQue77. What do you guys think? Should I change? Woot! Your opinion is valued! **


	10. Day At The Fair Part 2

**Yo yo yo! Woohoo! No classes today due to stormy weather here in the Philippines…and I even got up early! Poor me…******** XD Sorry for not updating fast—we were having our sports fest at school and I lost track of time ^_^. **

**Just to be clear, Sasuke looks at Amaya with interest and asks for a training battle because he didn't actually do that well with Haku, ne? Now, he wants to be beat Amaya, because, in a way, that's sort of like beating Haku (in female form…or so Haku says…I still don't believe he's male…), and then he'll feel even with Naruto (not that if he beats Amaya he'll get a bridge named after him or anything ^_^) and we all know how obsessed Sasuke is about one-upping Naruto. And also, sorry for making it seem like Amaya is all-powerful. I get strong sometimes on adjectives. Maybe that's why I'm on feature. Thanks to The Legend of Namikaze Naruto for pointing it out!**

**Also, I made a few typos in the last chappie. It's Ino Yamanaka, Not Yakamana. Sorry! **

**Thankies to those who reviewed!!! **

**Onwards!!! **

* * *

"Neji,"

I stopped moving through the racks of clothes and trained a disbelieving stare at the girl to my left.

_Neji?_

To my right, Hinata giggled. I still couldn't believe Ten liked someone, let alone to be totally in love with _Neji_.

I mean, oh-kay, if you forced me to be rational, on a level Neji was a total Level A Hottie (LAH), but I never expected the weapons specialist Ten to like him.

And Hinata liked Naruto. What sort of cruel world was this that everybody was suddenly pairing off and leaving me to while away my time in Single Land?

Ten laughed at my expression.

"What is it, Maya?" She asked me. I shrugged and pressed a simple white shirt against me.

"I dunno," I said. "I just feel kind of weird. I mean, you like Neji and Hinata likes Naruto." I grinned as Hinata blushed hard—hello, it's not like the girl tries to hide she's totally head-over-heels. "And I like—" I paused and considered. "Well, I don't really like anybody," _Except for maybe Kakashi, but he doesn't really count, right? . _

Behold, more of my freakish inability to fit in.

"Oh really?" She waggled her eyebrows at me. "What about Sasuke?"

"Sasuke?" I blinked. "Sasuke's just my friend. Well, barely. He just hangs with me to get on my good side so I'll fight with him someday," I wrinkled my nose at a hideous pink shirt with a large yellow pin and shoved it jokingly in front of me, making Hinata laugh.

"Well, that's not how it looked like earlier," Ten Ten laughed teasingly. I just shook my head. _Why do people keep thinking I like Sasuke? _

Wordlessly, I handed her a brown shirt.

"Stop having illusions and try on that shirt, Mrs. Hyuuga,"

*****

"Nice earrings, Amaya," I grinned at Kakashi, and fingered the two small kunais I had used for earrings.

"They're great if I don't stab them through my shoulders," I laughed and reached up to retie my forehead protector more tightly around my neck where it always sat. Ironic. _The way I'm wearing it, shouldn't it be called neck protector or something? _

After saying goodbye to Kakashi (he was looking for Gai, for God knows what reason, so that probably meant he had gone looking for another Icha Icha Paradise book) I bought some dumplings and ate them, wandering around the fair. Ten had gone off on a ride with Neji, Lee, Naruto and Choji. I had politely refused. I had issues with heights. I didn't know where Hinata had gone off to.

I wandered over to the dock in front of the fair and sat down, munching. I sat directly above the water on a wooden board. Ice needles formed at my fingers and I twirled them around. To amuse myself, I had a little target practice, aiming them at a nearby tree, trying to put them at the right points to make a spiral. I ended up shaping them in the outline of Kakashi's face. I laughed as once ice needle veered off course and stabbed the ice-Kakashi directly on the nose.

"I see you're having fun," I jolted and spun around.

"Sasuke! Don't do that!" I glared at him and resumed my cross legged position. He sat down next to me, carrying a small white box and a lunch packet. I was peering into the lunch packet, wondering what the hell was in it when he thrust the white box at me.

_Eh? _

"What's this?" I asked. His eyes were closed. He looked like he was sleeping.

"Something I won at the fair. Since I can't wear it, I thought I'd just give it to you,"

I just sat there, speechless.

_Who are you, and what have you done with Sasuke? _

Suspiciously, I considered the box.

What was it? A fist that's going to hit my nose?

_Maybe it's going to explode or something._

Sasuke smirked at my expression, which I imagine must have been a I-know-it's-going-to-explode-and-blow-a-hole-in-my-face-not-funny-Sasuke kind of thing, took the box, and opened it. I peered inside.

It was a necklace of beautiful interconnected silver chains. On the end was a panda's head, formed from green, white, and black gems.

I lifted the necklace, admiring the way the light from the sunset shone on the silver chains, making them glisten.

"Lift your hair,"

The necklace was taken from my hand. I just sat there like an idiot, not quite able to comprehend yet. And Kakashi called me _smart_. Boy got dreams that will never come true.

_What the hell is happening?_

Sighing, Sasuke lifted my hair from my neck, removed my forehead protector, dropping it on the board. I felt his cool fingers as they brushed over my skin. The pendant rested on my chest as he clasped it. I didn't know if he meant it, but I felt him squeeze me once. He sat back down, and let my hair wander back to my neck, handing me my forehead protector.

There was silence for a few minutes.

_Well don't just sit there. _

"Sasuke—really—I" Okay, choking on spit now. Swallow. Breathe. Try again.

"Thank you,"

_Wow, I'm seeing Sasuke in a whole different light today. _

"Whatever. It's not like I could go around wearing that, and I wasn't about to give it to Naruto. I was considering throwing it away at the dock but here you were, so I figured, why not."

_Wow. Thanks._

"Wow." I glared at him. "That makes me feel _so_ special."

He laughed and tilted his face to the sun.

"No, really, Amaya. I was thinking of giving it to you anyway, but I couldn't find you,"

I paused and smiled.

"Thank you, Sasuke"

He nodded. Then he looked away, training his stare at the ground. I noticed red gathering on his cheeks.

"It looks good on you…"

I blinked and slowly, a wide smile gathered at my face. Sasuke stared suspiciously at me.

"Aw! He _loves_ me!" I threw myself at him and hugged him hard. He toppled off the edge of the bridge, arms wind milling, dragging me down with him.

So not part of the plan.

Ah, _hell_.

Two voices, raised as one.

"My _hair_!"

*****

**NARRATOR'S POV **

"Hey! We're going to the—why are you guys wet?" Naruto stared weirdly at Sasuke and Amaya, who were squeezing water out of their clothes. Sakura and Ino immediately noticed the green pendant resting on Amaya's chest, and the way the two were so close to one another.

"Long story," Sasuke muttered. _Oh, my hair. _

"Tell you another time," Amaya promised. _Hell, no shit, my hair. _

"Okay—" Naruto shrugged. "Well, I was going to say we're going to the Bathhouse!"

Oh, yeah.

******

**AMAYA'S POV **

I sank into the hot water, letting out a sigh as the bubbles claimed me. I opened my eyes sleepily, watching the green panda pendant submerge into the water.

"Where'd you get that, Maya?" Ten asked, swimming towards me. I didn't know why, but a hot surge of content and happiness was settling on me. I unclasped the necklace and handed it towards her.

She fingered the gems. "It's really pretty! Where'd you get it?"

"Someone gave it me," I sank into the water, re-clasping the silver chains.

"Someone?" This one came in equally high notes from Ino and Sakura.

I nodded.

"Who?" Hinata peered curiously at me, pausing to admire the necklace.

"A friend," I smiled once more, submerging into the water.

_Thank you...Sasuke. _

* * *

**Aw….I wish I had a necklace like that. –glares at Sasuke—**

**Sasuke: I can't give **everyone **necklaces! **

**Hmph. Now, I am giving away free Nejis to reviewers!!! (C'mon, he **_**is**_** totally hot)**

**Neji: I do not find this amusing, Miyu-chan.**

**Miyu: Lighten up, Neji-kun! Everybody loves Neji! **

**Sasuke: --glares—I don't. **

**Miyu: Well, you're not supposed to. **

**Drop me a review and hope you liked reading…!**

**~Miyu **


	11. Caves, Scrolls, and Illusions

**Yo yo yo! I've been on the keyboard for three hours, typing and editing, and finally this came out. Hope you guys like it!!!**

**Thankies to those who reviewed!**

**On with the story! **

* * *

_I really hate mornings._

I groaned, rubbing my head. I had a massive headache and a cloud was settling in my eyes.

_First ray of light and I'm experiencing a migraine. This just _screams_ bad day._

Regretting having to use my chakra so early, I trailed the green glow on my fingertips over my head.

_Ah…._

I cast bleary eyes towards the hill. The sun was just rising and I could hear Naruto outside. I squinted and located Sasuke and Sakura.

_Oh, great. I slept in. Forgive me, Kakashi._

Then again, it was probably him where I got my tendency to be late from.

Quickly, I tugged on my black leggings and a long, blue shirt, trying not to trip. I combed my fingers through the tangles (my hair acts up in the morning), tying my hair with a long, violet cloth. I washed my face with the water from my pouch. The glint of the sun reflected off the panda necklace and I smiled, fingering the gems.

I hid the necklace under my shirt and secured my forehead protector, strapping my pouch around my body. Hurriedly slipping on my black flats, I raced outside—

And banged right into Kakashi.

I opened my mouth to make my excuse, matching his.

"Sorry I'm late—" We said at exactly the same time.

We stared at each other and tried again.

"I slept in—" Our voices chimed as one.

We both laughed.

"You guys _sure_ you're not related?" Naruto peered at us.

*****

"Okay," Kakashi stopped our long trek up the mountain in front of the mouth of a cave. I felt apprehensive.

_A cave? Don't hibernating bears live in caves? Is it hibernation season? _

"We stop here." He motioned to the cave. "You guys are going to inside, retrieve the five scrolls I've hidden inside the cave's interior, and get outside. Keep in mind there are obstacles. The other side will lead to a narrow ditch, where I'll be waiting in case Naruto makes it out early, accidentally dives of the mountain, and bangs off the face of the Earth." I laughed as Naruto scowled.

"There are five scrolls for each of you," Kakashi explained further. "Once you've collected all five scrolls, you're free to move out. But remember, there is a time limit. After three hours, whether you're done or not, the mission is over, all obstacles will disappear, and you'll know it's time to go when the scrolls glow red. _Don't _open the scrolls inside the cave. Once they glow red, just keep moving forward and you'll eventually find your way out."

We all nodded. _Three hours? Wow. What'll we be doing? Feeding bears? _

"Oh, and don't worry. If you're in trouble, just yell. If you hear someone yell, _follow the sound_. We're a team. We help each other out."

We nodded once more.

_And if we all yell at exactly the same time?_

I grinned to myself.

"Okay. On your mark…" Kakashi began, walking a good distance from us.

"Get set," I tensed my legs and my hand hesitated on a kunai with a talisman. Naruto had a determined smile on his face. Sasuke's look deemed his full concentration. Sakura looked headstrong.

"GO!"

*****

**AMAYA'S POV**

I raced into the cave's interior, getting hit with a strong blast of cold air and the smell of a musty basement. I could hear my friends' footsteps behind me.

There were four trails leading in opposite directions, separated by walls of grey limestone and pointy stalagmites. We glanced at each other and nodded. I trooped over to the second trail from the right and walked in. A few minutes later, and I couldn't hear my friends' footsteps anymore.

I brought out the kunai and looked around. Water dripped down from the cave's roof. Pointy stalagmites and stalactites littered around.

_This cave is older than me._

I touched a finger to one, and it exploded. I flipped backwards, wincing at my singed finger.

The message was clear. _Don't touch anything. _

I steered clear of the walls and treaded lightly, spotting something white and paper-like peeking out from under a rock.

*****

**SASUKE'S POV**

I walked on a few steps further the trail, straining my ear for any sound. Nothing, except for the drops falling off the roof.

_BAM!_

I jolted at the explosion.

Nothing. Must have been from some other trail.

I closed my eyes, and opened them.

I looked through the walls, my Sharingan activated. Looking around, I searched for anything that resembled a scroll.

_There it is. And another one. _

I walked over to the nearest one, lifting a rock to reveal it, simply positioned there. Cautiously, I wondered why this scroll was so easily attainable. I examined it. It looked authentic. The seal was in place. Remembering Kakashi's order, I stuffed it down my pocket without opening it.

I jogged over to the wall to my left, clearing some rocks under it. I could spot the second scroll buried beneath them. I reached over to grab it and—

"_You will not get this one so easily," _A mist ninja spoke, appearing from the crack right beneath the scroll, curling around my legs and holding me down. My feet were immovable from the ground.

With a grunt, I twisted my foot. The mist ninja laughed, the sound creeping along my neck.

I was free to move my hands, however. But the creeping mist on my legs made it hard to concentrate, and I could feel the numbness creeping upwards. I felt sleepy.

I couldn't waste my time with small jutsus. The mist was up to my shoulders now, and my eyes were closing.

I was going to join my parents…it would be nice to see them again. I would see my uncles, my aunts, my old childhood friends….

I imagined walking into my mother's arms, and hearing my father's voice.

"_I love you, darling."_

"_We're proud of you, son." _

I smiled and drifted away.

"_Concentrate, Sasuke." _Itachi's voice rebounded of the walls of my head, and I could see him, red eyes glowing, wicked smile taunting. _"You're still so weak, little brother." _

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" I watched as the fireball exploded from my mouth, and, upon contact with the mist ninja, disappeared, releasing my legs from the numbness, leaving me awake and alert, but with tears trickling down my face.

_These mist ninjas were operated to disappear when the sense of a powerful jutsu was unleashed upon them. _

I flexed my muscles and walked on, feeling an odd sense of foreboding, the scroll clutched in one hand.

_I am not weak. _

_****_

**NARUTO'S POV**

_Where is that stupid scroll?! Augh!_

I shook my fists at the cave, and trooped over to the rocks to inspect again. I had found the first one, obviously lying point black under a rock. I had a strong feeling another one was hidden here, so I couldn't advance until I found it.

I looked through the rocks, feeling for some sort of weak spot. I felt along the wall.

I felt frustrated. The others were probably out of the cave by now, looking for stupid, weak, Naruto. Sasuke was probably gloating.

To be Hokage.

_I am not weak. _

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

*****

**SAKURA'S POV**

I slammed against the wall, wincing as blood trickled from my mouth. The first scroll rested in my pocket, the other one sitting now a few feet from me, but blocked by an obstacle.

_Only one Shinobi left. _

He hit me, and I collapsed on the ground, feeling my knees give in.

_Weak, little girl._

I felt tears on my face.

"_Sakura! You are so weak! You will never be good enough, you will never advance, never improve! Stop telling others to get better when you yourself can't!" _

Gritting my teeth, I stood up.

"I am not weak."

I squinted and swung as hard as I could.

_Jackpot._

I grabbed the scroll, and went forward.

*****

**AMAYA'S POV **

I stared, apprehensive as the ninja advanced. My hand tensed.

"Kanashibari no jutsu!"

_Oh, no._

I gritted my teeth as the frozen feeling spread and the black clothed ninja in front of me smiled.

_You're going to die._

No, I am not.

_You're going to die, not going to live, or ever be loved. You're going to die and leave poor Kakashi behind._

An image of Kakashi swam into focus.

_You're going to leave this world…_

_Leave your brother…_

_Leave your friends… _

_Leave your ambitions and dreams…_

_It will be painful. Your blood will be spattered on this cave. _

I gasped and the tears started trickling down.

_You will never come back again; never feel the warmth you feel with little Sasuke… _

_Never laugh with Kakashi…_

_Never smile with Sakura…_

_Never fool around with Naruto… _

I watched in agony at my coming death. Images of them filled my mind.

_Kakashi._

_Sasuke._

_Naruto._

_Sakura._

"Shut up and get out of my way." I broke through the pain, and walked away from the ninja in front of me, the scroll in hand. I was not weak.

*****

Kakashi paused from his reading and stared at the exit of the cave.

Two scrolls, three more to go, two hours and thirty minutes and counting.

* * *

**Thankies for reading, minna!**

**(Sorry for the whole 'I'm not weak' theme—I just got a crazy impulse and when crazy impulses come, I follow them ^_^) **

**Next chapter features heavily on SasuXMaya moments! Well, not all, but major. You guys are probably wondering when I'll end the fic. The sketch is kind of rough, but I'm settling on 4-5 more chapters plus a sequel. Hope you guys stay true to the end!**

**Drop me a review and hope you liked reading…! **

**~Miyu **


	12. Caves, Scrolls, and IllusionsPart 1!

**Woot woot! Sorry for not updating fast, guys, but I was up all week cramming for the exam of the century (which is now done). Triple woot! The Math part actually _made sense..._which probably means I did something wrong . Anyways, the fighting thingie continues until chappie 14, but it ends there, promise, minna!**

**Hope you like reading!!! Oh, and the POV's with no name are Amaya's.**

* * *

_Stupid leaky roof._

I scowled and trained my death glare towards the cave's roof which was leaking water. _If I call my plumber, will you shut up?_

I shut my eyes and massaged my temples. I hadn't found a single trace of the damned third scroll anywhere, and I had been here for a grand total of fifteen minutes.

I took a deep breath and surveyed my surroundings with a frustrated air. Nothing. Just the same cave walls. I blinked my eyes several times. All I was seeing were these sprawling grey walls.

Grey, grey, black rock, stalagmite dripping water, grey, grey, black rock, grey, grey, hole in the middle of the floor, grey, grey—wait a second.

…_What the hell? _

Slowly, I advanced towards the hole, wondering how I must have missed it. _Is it _supposed_ to be here? Is this normal cave behavior? Do caves _always _have big, damp holes in the middle of their floors? Are there cave architects? What exactly where they thinking, putting goddamn holes in their floors? That's like putting open man holes in the shoe department when they're having a sale. _

I peered into the hole suspiciously, keeping a good five feet from the gaping black thing, lest something might suddenly yank me into it with those bloody hands you see in horror movies. Just, you know, not that I was scared. Or anything.

I pushed my head closer. "Hello?"

I waited for several minutes.

Silence.

_Oh, well. I called. _

I jumped in and felt a sharp gust of air as I was taken downwards…downwards…and landed with a painful thump on something that felt like marble.

My butt was going to kill me tomorrow.

*****

_Where in fuck am I? _

I got up and considered yelling for help.

_My butt has been seriously damaged. Rescue me, ASAP._

Snort. Not that anybody (particularly Sasuke) would ever consider helping me.

As my eyes adjusted, I slowly took in my surroundings, and started to panic.

_Oh My God! I'm BLIND! I'll never see the rising sun again! I'll have eyes like Neji only I can't see! Kakashi! Help me!_

I started to hyperventilate. My head was spinning. The darkness was closing in on me.

It was all wrong. My head was all wrong. My eyes were all wrong. I had a sudden surge of panic, like I had to keep moving.

I stumbled around and hit something hard, falling down on my knees, trembling from head to foot. Darkness…nothing but darkness…

Calm down, Maya. Deep breaths. You're freakin' out, man, freakin' out.

I needed to calm my head. _Shut up! _I screamed at it.

_Ah..._

My eyes were wet. I opened my eyes and tried again.

_Calm. _

Okay. That was better. I stood and tried to make sense of my surroundings.

All I could see was…well, nothing, actually. It looked like something an over-enthusiastic five year old had snatched and violently colored.

I touched a finger to the wall and deliberated, waiting for it to explode or something. It didn't. Huh. Maybe the touch-and-it-will-explode-theme worked only on stalagmites.

Regretfully, I felt for a loose chip on the wall, wedged it out carefully, and chewed at it. The paste confirmed my hunch.

_This wall is made of limestone. Well hell. Had it been, like, submerged into water for a thousand years or something? _

I began knocking on the walls, looking for something, a hollow spot maybe. I began panicking as I felt around the wall. How many minutes had I been here? Five? Ten? Twenty?

_Shit. Shit. Shit. _

A few more seconds passed. A hollow knock.

_Here it is!_

I swept my fingers on top of the part of the wall with the hollow sound, feeling around. It was flat except for a thin and oddly shaped pointed thingie sticking out with a hole in the middle. I cocked my head and traced my fingers over the hole. It was shaped almost like a…

Key…

Hole.

_Yes!_

I began crawling around, feeling for anything that resembled a key. The floor was cold and pretty soon I was cold too. You know, call me crazy, but I personally suggest space heaters in caves. Maybe when I grew up I could run for senate and campaign for space heaters. Yeah. Only I didn't think ninjas had senate officers.

I paused. Sounds rebounded in the cave walls and I could hear footsteps clearly.

_Well, hell. I'm blind. _

Curse, you, Kakashi.

I adjusted my stance and tried not to panic. I couldn't see, but I could feel, several chakra all moving around. I felt each chakra strongly, and by quickly counting, I deduced there were approximately twenty of them, their chakra levels considerably high. I couldn't feel them individually because they were all like, squished together. Dimly, I wondered how I was supposed to fight them, blind as I was.

_Use your senses, stupid. Isn't this what you always see in those ninja movies? The hero is blind so she uses her other senses and she totally kicks butt! _

_This isn't Hollywood_, I screamed in my head.

I closed my eyes and screamed inside my head. I need help!

Suddenly, I began feeling something…some sort of extra sense… I strained my ears harder and listened for sound. Maybe I was just going mad but I could see my opponents from here. Well, not see, but _hear_, and _feel_. My skin was extra sensitive. I could see the chakra so clearly it was like someone had shoved it up my face.

Like an intercom, a voice started crackling in my head, getting louder and louder.

_To the right. To the back. To the front. None at the left. None yet. They're trying to get you off guard so they're coming slowly and quietly. Don't let them corner you. Protect your back. _

I backed toward the wall and pressed against the hard limestone. It wasn't me talking anymore. This was Army Survivor Amaya. The real Amaya was just along for the ride. A rustle to my left caught my attention. Another to the right. To my front. They were closing in. I deliberated, waiting for the signal.

_Go. _

My leg shot out and I caught someone by the neck, hard, I grabbed his leg and threw him backwards. I grabbed another one and, grunting, swung him around with all my strength, using him as a sort of human weapon. I banged heads. Someone caught me by the jaw and I retaliated. Punched him in the guts. Or wherever it was I hit him.

I whipped out a kunai in each hand and thrust it in hard to the sounds coming from my left, hearing the tear of cloth and the scraping of metal against skin. Unfortunately for me, my triumph was short-lived and someone flying tackled me, and I cracked my head on a rock.

_Ow…oh, shit._

"Water Village Style…Cutting Blade!" I did my hand signs quickly, using the technique Kakashi had taught me a while back. Fortunately for me, a large puddle of water was right beside me, probably from the roof, and I used that. The sharp blue blade was in front of me in moments. _Yes!_

I thrust the blade around, catching one by the gut. I worked this way for a few moments, injuring a lot of them, but there were still a few left and my chakra was dwindling.

"Sensatsu Suishou Hijutsu!" A rain of ice needles fell, this time from the roof, I crossed my arms so that the flurry of blades went in all directions. 

_What if… _

I concentrated on one big ice needle. I forced an amount of chakra out of me, and formed it into a thin but unbreakable string of energy, attaching it to the needle. A thin line of chakra extended from the tip of my finger and I moved it around. The ice needle obeyed.

Successful, I hit my target with a lot more accuracy than before. _Maybe I could try multiple ice needles…_ I breathed out of my mouth and slowly began bringing out amounts of chakra and attaching them as thin strings to as many ice needles as I could. I clenched my fists and opened them, and the ice needles zoomed forward. Experimenting, I willed my chakra, and the needle attached, to the right and heard an 'ow!' in the air. _Success!_

Wait.

What happened?

I opened one eye. The cave was lighted up. The ninjas weren't there anymore. It was like there had never been a fight. The only evidence was a cracked ice needle on the floor and a metal tube thingie.

I opened the tube after trying several methods to unlock it, (twisted the cap—who knew), took the key out, and examined it. It looked sort of new. It was even kind of shiny. I filled the metal tube thingie with the water from the cave's roof. _I promise I will never curse you and your annoying dripping habits again. _

_Yay_, I smiled to myself, inserted the key, pocketed the scroll and the twisty metal thingie, carefully wiped blood from my hands, and went on my way.

*****

**SASUKE'S POV:**

Calmly, I took the scroll and walked away from the blackened pieces my jutsu had left behind.

_Only two more scrolls… _

Wait…was that…no.

What the hell?

*****

**AMAYA'S POV**

_Where am I?_

I seem to be getting lost more and more these days. Maybe I should invest on a map or something. Maybe I should invest on a portable GPS instead.

_Concentrate, woman. _

"Amaya!"

I jolted, spinning around.

"…Sasuke?!"

* * *

**Well that's the end of it! Sorry it was pretty short! Onwards to chappie 13!!!**

**Reviewers get an Itachi each! He comes with free nail polish, a complete Akatsuki getup you can wear and pretend you're Madara or Pein or Sasori or whatever (hey, it's what I would do), and this cute little card with the clouds that says: "JOIN AKATSUKI NOW! or, ADVERTISE US AND PEIN'LL PAY YOU DOUBLE!"**

**Sasuke: ARE YOU ADVERTISING MY BROTHER AND HIS STUPID LITTLE ORGANIZATION?!?! You...TRAITOR!**

**Miyu: Lemme see, Sasu-uke. Money...or Sasuke? Money...or Sasuke? Well, this is a no-brainer. Of course I pick you, money!**

**Hope you liked reading and drop me a review in the review basket, minna! ^_^**

**~Miyu**


	13. Caves, Scrolls, and Illusions Part 2!

**Here it is!!! Sorry for the inaccuracies here, minna! I know missions aren't supposed to be so drastic, but I like drama! ^_^**

**

* * *

**********

AMAYA'S POV

_Maybe I'm having one of those psychotic breaks._

"You're not here; you're at that other trail." _Wow, that sounded stupid_.

"I know." Nonchalantly.

"I was just walking and I ended up here." He gestured to our surroundings. I nodded slowly. The way he stared at me felt uncomfortable.

****

**SASUKE'S POV**

I stared at Amaya closely. Was there something about her that was strange or was it just me?

"How'd you get here anyway?" I asked, still in a little bit of a shock. _I thought we were supposed to have separate trails. _

"I don't know," Amaya shrugged and frowned. She tugged at her hair; the cloth she had used to tie it was caught. Shrugging, she untied her hair and a mass of black and purple fell forward.

I breathed through my mouth.

"You think it's somewhere here?" She asked me.

"It?" _Focus, moron. _

"The scroll."

"…Maybe."

We spent some silence looking for it. I ducked into a corner and looked around with a keen eye. I could sense the scroll somewhere near…so…near.

"Hey, Sasuke…"

I glanced up, my reverie broken.

"Look, I wanted to tell you…"

****

**AMAYA'S POV**

"Have you found it?"

I looked up in irritation at Sasuke, my eyes glazed from staring at the same scenery of wall cave over and over again. _If I'd have found it, I wouldn't still be here now, would I? _

"No."

"Look,"

"I'm looking,"

"Well look harder,"

_Aye aye, turd. _

I lifted a rock and set it aside with a small huff. _Kakashi got us moving rocks. If we'd have known better, we'd have brought shovels and hard hats, too._ A bright black gleam caught my eye.

…_Ebony? _

I picked up the shard of black ebony and played around with it with my fingers. How did it get here? I tilted it to the light, admiring the way it shone and glowed. I pressed the black point against my skin, wondering…

"Ow!"

Cursing, I dropped the shard and watched as the blood flowed from the long cut on my arm where I had dragged it out by accident.

"What's wrong?" Suddenly Sasuke was right beside me, holding my hand in his and staring in concern at my cut. I tried not to gape. _Maybe I ate something funky this morning…oh, wait. I didn't eat anything. Maybe that's it. _

"No, I'm fine, Sasu—" I stopped, short of breath. He was so close to me I could see his pupils and me reflected in them. His lashes were long and curly; they cast a shadow on his pale skin. He was looking at me too. We sprang back from each other. His cheeks were red.

"Sorry." He muttered.

I paused and tried to get my breathing on track. "That's okay."

I dropped to my knees and shifted rock after rock, finally having to stop when I looked like I had been under a mine or something. I sat down. Sasuke plopped down next to me, his bangs falling on his face.

"We're never going to get outta here," I groaned, dunking my head between my knees.

He looked around. Then he lifted my hand to examine the cut.

"It's fine, really." I said between my teeth. It didn't hurt as much, and it really wasn't that deep anyway. Actually, it stung and the dried blood was creeping me out.

"Hmph." He exhaled. Then he looked at me with an intensity that made me nervous.

"Amaya."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

_Excuse me…?_

"Um. I don't know." I crossed my legs and tilted my face from him. My face was growing red. What was the hell with Sasuke today?

"A first kiss?"

It was out of my mouth before I could stop.

"No."

"You mind if…"

Okay, boy what do you think you're—wait. Go back. Move. I need my personal space!

_That is…that's a…_

Oh, my God.

*****

**SASUKE'S POV**

"Amaya? What's wrong?" I pulled at Amaya's arm. One minute she had been about to tell me something and then the next she was shivering on the floor.

"I…don't…know," Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself into a sitting position and then she swayed. I had her in my arms before she could even protest.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. She shook her head. Her face broke out into a light sweat.

"I'm dizzy. The walls are spinning." She clung to me and closed her eyes tight. Uncertain, I held her to my body. She didn't feel like I thought Amaya would. She was cold.

"Amaya." I shook her. No response. "Amaya." Frantically now. "Amaya!"

Her eyes opened and she took a big gulp of air, tears streaming across her ivory skin.

"Sasuke." Her voice croaked. "I don't feel so good," She shivered once more and I winced. I felt her neck and reeled back. She was burning.

_Kakashi will kill me if I don't do anything. _

Gently, I wrapped my arms around her and buried my head in her neck, breathing in her scent. She squirmed in my arms, fitting her body to mine.

"Thank you."

I nodded. She smelled good. Sort of like jasmine and roses.

…Jasmine and roses.

Amaya smelled like violets and cream.

Pushing her away violently, I saw the gleam of the kunai in her hand she had been about to stick into my neck.

"You are not Amaya."

*****

**AMAYA'S POV**

"No!" I shoved him away, my hand trembling. "You're not Sasuke!"

He moved away, a wounded look in his grey eyes, but the shock was wearing off. I could see now. This wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't a pervert. And Sasuke did not wear earrings. He was not a stud, for God's sake.

_If he's not Sasuke…who is he? _

"Heh, took you a while to figure that out, eh?" Not-Sasuke smirked at me, and before I knew it, I had been tackled to the floor and I was now receiving multiple blows to my stomach.

Grunting, I punched as hard as I could, and I heard his jaw breaking. He was thrown back a couple feet. Kakashi had always told me I could become a really powerful Taijutsu user. If I actually had the patience with that particular jutsu. Which I don't. I don't wanna end up like Lee.

"I may not be your little Sasuke, but I know a few things from his book," Not-Sasuke grabbed me by my hair and kneed my abdomen, sending pain through my body. He then proceeded to unleash upon me a series of powerful punches and kicks, kind of like the Lion Combo Sasuke had tried to use on me. I was now losing hope, and a hella lot of blood. My shirt was soaked.

I spit up blood and smacked him hard with my fist, thanking Kami Kakashi had wasted all those free afternoons of mine instructing me to punch my way through blocks of wood. It was like punching metal. I heard him yell so I must have hit something painful, but he pushed me backwards so I couldn't see.

I stumbled and banged my head on the wall, against a pointy rock. The world spun for a moment and a sharp pain came from my head. I lifted my hand to the back of my head, eyes widening when I felt something sticky and wet. I took my hand back and stared at the blood. A lot of blood.

_Why are the walls spinning so much? _

I clung to the walls for support. It was all wrong. The ceiling was on the floor and the floor was on the ceiling. I spotted Not-Sasuke groaning and clutching his nose in the corner. I stumbled my way to him like a drunk.

Grunting, I poked my fingers harshly into the muscle on his ankle, and jabbed the parts where he would take some time to recover. I left his hands unharmed. Lastly, I punched the back of his neck hard, where I knew it would hurt. I walked backwards, a good five feet from him, and wiped blood from my mouth, steadying myself and the spinning walls. I closed my eyes.

It had always been a talent of mine to sense chakra strongly. It was unusual, I had often heard Tsunade say. I could feel where the chakra was, where it flows and where it would go, keenly and accurately than most ninjas. Now I felt him building up a large amount chakra in his north-east stomach region, exactly fifteen degrees down his fourth rib, preparing to unleash something that I knew I probably wouldn't get back from so easily. With a determined scowl, I closed my eyes. The walls had stopped spinning. Running along the cave's walls, gathering speed as I went, I jumped and sent him flying with a kick to his stomach, disrupting the build-up of chakra.

I walked towards him. He was breathing heavy on the floor. I yanked his hair up and looked at him.

"Who are you?"

He grinned maliciously at me. "I'm Sasuke, baby."

*****

**NARRATOR'S POV**

Amaya shook, blood dripping from the wound in her head. Not-Sasuke took advantage of the moment, grabbed for her hand and threw her backwards, but Amaya's ponytail whipped him along the face and the kunai she had been holding struck deep lines across his face.

Not-Sasuke howled and clutched at his face, and Amaya took this moment to bring her foot down hard on his back. She caught him by the throat and displayed exactly how strong Kakashi had taught her to be. Her opponent turned blue for a moment but bared his teeth to smile.

"You win this time, little girl."

Not-Sasuke smirked maliciously, disappeared in a plume of smoke and left a scroll behind. A large hole suddenly blasted its way through the cave's wall, and Amaya could hear rocks being thrown out and an enraged scream that belonged to someone that sounded very much like her.

She was suddenly dizzy again.

* * *

**Chappie 14 is on the way!!! It has major SasuXMaya moments. I promise, after this long, drawn-out mission, there shall be FLUFF! And SMOOCHY STUFF! 'Cause we all know Sasuke hates FLUFFY SMOOCHY STUFF! He thinks girls have COOTIES! (Gasp!)**

**Hope you liked reading and drop me a review, minna!**

**Go ahead...press that cute little review button right there. You know you want to.**

**~Miyu-uke (and Sasu-uke, ahum, I mean -seme) **


	14. Caves, Scrolls, and Illusions Part 3

**Yo yo! Welcome back to Caves, Scrolls, and Illusions Part 3 (I know, I know. A lot of parts.)**

** Thanks so much to those who reviewed! I really appreciate you guys! ^_^**

**I actually realized it just now. I was supposed to post this a while back, but I guess I must have accidentally deleted that part. **

**PHILIPPINES IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AGAIN, DUE TO TWO TYPHOONS, ONDOY AND PEPENG (yes, I do not know where they got those horrible, horrible names). COUNTLESS PEOPLE DIED, PLACES WERE FLOODED, AND CARS WERE FLOATING AROUND LIKE TOY TRUCKS (seriously, I saw a Lexus Hybrid SUV just… swimming there). I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW DEEP THE WATER WAS. PLUS IT WAS BROWN. OUR AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY IS SUFFERING, AND LOTS OF LOW-LYING VILLAGES HAVE BEEN RAVAGED. I FEEL SO SORRY AND SO BAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVE LOST MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILY. BUT MY PEOPLE ARE STRONG, WE WILL GET PAST THIS. I AM PRAYING FOR US FILIPINOS AND I HOPE YOU PRAY TOO. Thank you! **

**Just felt like I needed to post that, minna. Sorry ^_^**

**Anyways, onwards to the craziness!**

* * *

**SASUKE'S POV**

I stared at the kunai and tried not to think of how close I came to ending up with it in my neck.

"_What are you talking about, Sasuke?" _I winced at the sound of the look-alike's voice. It was like nails against a chalkboard. She stood up, a fierce look on her face, her fingers clawed inward, like a bird. Come to think of it, she even looked like one. A bird, I mean. I wondered how I could have mistaken her for Amaya. The Genjutsu must be wearing off.

I took a close look.

"You're not Amaya," I said. "You're not my friend."

"_Friends_?" She spat. "You have friends?"

I glowered at her, feeling bile in my mouth. I wanted to rip her throat out, but instead, I settled for insulting her.

"I have to congratulate you. It must have taken an extremely powerful Genjutsu to make you look that pretty."

"Wha—why you insolent little brat!"

We did our hand signs quickly, and glaring at each other, proceeded to unleash fire.

"_Housenka no jutsu!_"

"Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

I waited until she fell and a scream left her mouth before reaching over and plucking the scroll from the ground.

_I could have just said you are ugly. Be thankful. _

_****_

**AMAYA'S POV**

I stepped into the giant hole, and looked around, waiting for the entire thing to come crashing down. In three…two…one…

"What….happened…to you?"

I watched strangely as Sasuke choked on his words and stared at me with wide eyes. Briefly, my mind flitted to several possibilities. _Do I have dirt on my nose? Is my hair sticking up at the back? Do I have rocks hanging from my hair or something? Hey, I can't look great all the time. _

Then I remembered the earlier fiasco with the banging of the head on the wall. Oh, right. I touched a finger to my face and was horrified to see red, slimy, stuff. _Maybe it's too late to hope this is Jell-O? _

I conjured up an image of me with blood all over my face and body, like the veteran of a long and grueling war, instead of a girl who simply happened to stumble and bang her head on the opposite wall. Then I tried to put myself in Sasuke's shoes and imagine what his reaction would be if any such said girl appeared out of a hole. Well, hell, I was just lucky he wasn't strangling me or whatever.

"Wait, Sasuke—" I was just about to explain that no, I was neither dead nor dying, just a little bit dizzy and nauseated, and yes, I knew I looked horrible but—

"_What happened to you_?" Sasuke hissed, crossing the room in two giant strides. He cupped my face in his hands and examined my bloodstained self. I was taken aback (shocked) by his mother-like (girly) concern. I was kind of imagining a scenario wherein he would grab a rock from the ceiling and do me in. Then he'd do the cha-cha over my dead body.

"Back of the head," I said automatically. He sighed, exasperated and moved to inspect the wound. When he turned back, his face was impassive. Maybe it meant the news was good. I hoped it was good.

Sasuke stood.

Sasuke stared.

That obviously meant I was going to die.

"What?" I cringed at his silence. I didn't feel all that bad anymore. I couldn't even feel the cut, except for maybe a stinging sensation. Maybe I could heal it later. I didn't have enough chakra for anything right now.

"No. It's fine. You're going to be fine." Sasuke wiped some blood off my face, his cool fingers steady, his eyes the picture of nonchalance. I started relaxing. "What happened, anyway?" _Oh, ya mean 'whodunit', right? Well, lemme see, it was a wall. A big giant wall. And yes he was BAD. _

"I banged my head on the wall," He rolled his eyes at me and I scowled. _Why is it that every damn moment in my life is filled with suicidal injuries? First the broken leg then this. What's next? A coma? Why does fate hate me so much? _

"Hey, you could give me some credit," I said, trying to lighten the tension. I smiled half-heartedly at him. I was kind of touched that he was asking me so much. That, and annoyed. Maybe we were really friends. Well, as far as 'friends' went for Sasuke, yes.

"And why would I do that?"

"At least I didn't die," I pointed out, smiling triumphantly.

"Whatever." He breathed through his mouth. "Can't you heal it or something?"

"Healing," I responded, and closed my eyes. I let the green glow form first, before trailing it across my head. I could have prodded about to determine the damage, but the wound was still fresh, and that required a certain amount of healing chakra, and I was all out of absolutely any kind of chakra. So I just cleaned it as best as I could, and temporarily closed it with my chakra. I could wait for the healing nins to do the major stuff. The important part was that it wasn't bleeding anymore. I probably had been overreacting, but the back of my head must be pretty damn gory.

I let my breath out and turned to look at Sasuke.

"I'm fine." I said. He stared at me for a moment. "Of course you are." He said.

"Are you dizzy?" I considered.

"A little. Sleepy."

"Don't sleep." His eyes softened for a moment and a small half-smile tugged at his mouth. Dang, I wish I had a camera. Do you know how much this baby could sell if I showed it to his fangirls?! I would be stuffing my face in cash.

"Should we…uh, walk separate ways or something?" I jumped from foot to foot, uncertain.

"No." He said firmly. "Last thing I need is for you to break something else like your skull, or your ribs." _No need to get so pessimistic, Mr. Smiley-pants. I'll probably just break something minor, like my ankle bone or my elbone. Wait. That's elbow. I meant elbow. _

"I'm not doing it on purpose." I defended. "If this cave had flat floors, it wouldn't be much of a problem!"

"Amaya." He said, obviously trying to be serious. "I have seen you trip over thin air. This cave has rocks sticking up from the floors every few millimetres. It'll be better if you stick with me."

Sulking, I conceded. I was independent and I hated being treated like five, but I had to admit by balance wasn't the best there was. Well, I was doubting I was even born with it.

We walked in silence.

"Hey, sorry for making you freak about my head and everything." I tried not to notice the blood on my clothes as we walked forward, and also tried not to gloat that I made him freak. Well, I wasn't trying that hard.

"Whatever. How did you get like this, anyway? Tripped over a rock, was it?" Ha-ha.

"Actually, I was violently pushed by someone who looked a lot like you." _Hah. Don't look quite so pompous now, do we? _

"Ah." He nodded. "I understand."

"Understand what…?"

"Well, I was fighting with this girl who was disguised as you. I guess that must have been the test. To know your teammate to an extent that you would figure out differences immediately, no matter how minor. It builds awareness and confidence to locate the differences in a matter of minutes. This is why we have trust exercises."

"Oh…" I nodded and smiled sweetly at him. "You are a good little student."

He rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling again. I suddenly remembered how sweet he could be…

"Oh!" I remembered with a jolt. _Please don't let it be blood-coated, please don't let it be blood-coated, please don't—_

Amazingly, as I pulled the necklace out to inspect it, there wasn't a single drop of blood on it. Now if I could only say that about me.

I tucked the necklace back in and we continued walking, our hands bumping so frequently I finally got sick of it, took his hand in mine firmly, and ignored the looks he shot at me.

"We're here."

*****

I looked around, bewildered.

"Here where?!"

We were in a large part of the cave. The roof was impossibly high and spacious—and decorated with kajillions of hanging bats, a feat that would have scared the helluza out of me (I swear they were staring at us, although I think I maybe have read somewhere that bats are blind), if I hadn't angled my face towards the floor and became even more freaked.

The floor was a deep pool, kind of carved into the cave's recesses. We were standing right on the edge of a hanging cliff, any more feet and we would have plopped into the giant, black, gurgling, lumpy, disgusting mess that was below us.

Guess what the stuff was?

Bat shit. Bat poop. The thing that comes out of the rectum. Whatever ya'd like to call it.

And worse news?

The only other stable surface that was capable of being walked upon was on the other side, and the only way there was through the bat doo.

…Maybe I should have brought a pooper-scooper.

* * *

**XD Got the idea when I was cleaning up after my dog with the, er, ah, pooper-scooper (I laughed out loud when my mom said that. Needless to say, she stared at me). **

**Anyways, hoped you liked reading and drop me a review, minna!**

**Reviewers get a…lemme see, I think I'm running out of hot guys to pick on. Oh, noes!**

**I know! Reviewers get a pair of Sasuke's socks I stole!**

**Sasuke: …**

**Miyu: They were in Sakura's room, in the middle of a circle with candles. I think the girl's trying to go voodoo on you. You better watch out when you start sprouting hair in all the wrong places. Oh wait, that's puberty. **

**Reviews are highly appreciated! Don't you want a pair of Sasuke's socks?**

**~Miyu **


	15. Caves, Scrolls, and Illusions Part 4

Yo yo, minna!!! So, I have wrote, re-wrote, and am now re-writing this chapter. That's how horrible it was.

Forgive me, people. My grandma just passed away and I have been bawling my eyes and snot out since eleven. I miss her so, so, so much. _Lola_, wherever you are, I hope you are at rest.

I could have written this when I was half-sane and not sniffling every few minutes, but I wanted this done before I go to sleep.

Lemme see, it is now… 11:43 PM. Hope you guys like this chapter! Did my best.

Onwards (waves black flag).

******

I stared at Sasuke. He stared at me.

We had a little staring match.

Dang it, I think I blinked.

"I'm not going in there." I crossed my arms and put on what I hoped was my and-there's-nothing-you-can-do-about-it face. He didn't look intimidated at all. Well, hell.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not." _Boy, what takes to make you understand? _

"Yes, you are."

I looked towards the pool again, in all it's um, blackness.

_I'd rather get married to Gai-sensei and have weird kids with those horrible, horrible eyebrows. _

I wasn't like those blondes who put watermelons down their chests, but I was not a testosterone-packed man either. I didn't have a six-pack. I was still a girl, even if my hair wasn't Barbie-doll blonde.

"Why can't we just walk on it?" I fiddled with the hem of my shirt. I had done walking on water with Shizune-san once. I liked it. Although I was sure I wouldn't like this, I saw no reason why we couldn't.

"This isn't like water, Amaya. It'll be hard to walk on it." He took a stone and plonked it towards the poop. It began sinking into the waters. "If we try to walk on this, our feet will get stuck."

Dang it, pretty boy was right.

I tried to look at my situation positively. I looked at it through different angles. I shook it upside down and stared pointedly at it.

Nada, zip, nothing.

Okay, well how about this bright idea: I could wade through it and imagine that half my body and my legs were in oatmeal. Would that help?

Obviously not.

"Okay. Okay. We'll just cross it, really really fast, alright?"

He looked at me strangely. Yes, people, I am weird. Get that past your thick skulls.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Amaya, you will not just be _crossing_ the pool."

_Yes, I will also be puking in the pool and making it the hell grosser_, "What the hell do you mean?"

"Amaya, the scroll is _in _there, we have to _search_ for it." He was looking at me like I was stupidly, idiotically, sadly incompetent. Which I was.

"…Like in the poop?"

"Yes."

"Like with our hands?"

"Yes."

"Ha-ha." I rolled my eyes. "Nice joke, Sasuke. You can stop kidding now."

Silence.

"_Oh_, so you're serious."

******

I looked at it.

And looked at it.

And looked at it.

"Will you stop being so squeamish?" Sasuke snapped at me and slid in.

Squeamish. Huh. I believe it was you, was it not, who had to go to the bathroom to blow his chunks after accidentally walking in the girls' bathroom and seeing this lone, bloody napkin on the floor, which was so obviously _not _mine. So coincidentally, I was having my period that day. So what? You can't prove anything.

The poops from the ceiling made a sound as they hit the pool. I turned around and gagged.

_Well, here goes everything hygiene-related. _

I slid my legs in and winced. I made another plopping sound as I went in. Figures. Another sense disgusted. As if I needed any more.

I squinched my eyes shut and tried not to grimace as I felt slimy stuff sliding against my legs as I moved forward. I felt like I was fighting against glue. The muscles on my legs were really straining.

Sasuke looked around with a determined look to his features. Wow. Boy didn't even show one sign of squeamishness. I had half a mind to remind him about the napkin incident.

Gritting my teeth, I plunged my hand into the poop and felt around. I pushed my squeamish self into the corner, screaming at her to shut the hell up. Things like _squishy_, _slimy_, and _smelly_ raced through my head just as my hand hit something hard and smooth, that I hoped very much wasn't hardened feces. Suddenly the thing moved to the right. I groped for it. It moved to the left.

_Heh…it moved. _

I stared at it. It disappeared then popped up to the right.

I ran around blindly feeling for the thing, whatever it was. I saw a glimmer of white and dove for it, practically burying myself in the poop. Surprisingly, I wasn't disgusted. Interested, actually. At my find.

"I think…I found something." I tugged the item up, tilting it towards the light. It was white and marble-like and cold. It took a few minutes for my stupidity to register it for what it was.

"THERE'S A _FREAKIN' _HAND ON MY ARM! Sasuke, get it off." I tugged at the hand, frantically trying to keep my cool. It was a disembodied arm and it was clinging to me hard. I was screaming so loud my eyeballs were rattling.

"Dang. It. Get. This. Fuck. Off. Of. Me." I looked around. Where in hell was that boy?

"This is fucky, crappy shit, Sasuke. If you are playing games with me, quit it." I waved the arm off, screeching as the grip tightened on me. A marble-cold sensation clung to my other hand and I was horrified to see an arm similar to my right clinging to me. Another one wrapped itself across my waist. My heart beat like crazy as I trashed around, trying to fling them off.

"Amaya." Sasuke put his arm around me.

_Stop it_, I tried to scream. _I have enough hands on me._

By the time I calmed down enough to look at him, my feet were both held down fast.

"Amaya, relax." I stared at him like he was crazy. _Did I just…?_

Oh, great.

"Uh, Sasuke." I looked down at my sinking self. "Now might be a good time to go Superman and _rescue me_."

"Just relax," He murmured soothingly, and wiped a few tears I hadn't realized were there off my face.

"What do you mean—"

"Amaya, relax. Listen to me." His grey eyes bored into mine. I was sinking, faster it seemed as I trashed around. Only the upper half of my body was moving, the lower half was completely sunk in. What was this, quicksand?!

"I can't—" The tears flowed hard. I was down to my chest level. Sasuke had to crouch to look at me. I went down.

_I can't breathe!_

I blinked and wrestled with a hand, in horror as it tried to hold my nose shut. I used my strength to yank it off my face. Then with a quickness that surprised me, I was up and trashing again.

"Amaya—" Sasuke was talking. What was he saying? Something about relaxing.

Down, I went.

I fought with my legs, managing to pull myself forward. I saw his bangs. I saw his face. I saw his mouth.

"I can't—" I choked. Warm lips encased mine. I froze.

_What the…?_

What is he doing?!

_He's kissing you, stupid. _

Well, yes, I processed most of that. Why?!?!

…_I don't know either._

Wow. Thanks so much.

A few minutes passed. I was still frozen cold. His tongue flicked against mine and everything was warm again.

His arms tightened around my waist—my waist?—for a second before dropping off. I heard hard breathing.

My toes tingled.

Wait…

My toes…?

My toes! I could feel them again! I moved each toe with glee, a bit like that blonde girl in Kill Bill when she tries to walk again. Little pinky. Big pinky. Ah, it felt good.

I looked down. We were in solid ground. I looked around. Huh. We were in the same cave, and this was the pit. But where was the poop? Where were all the disgusting sludges I'd labored through?

"Here." I jolted and stared at the scroll Sasuke offered me. He was holding the other one in his hand.

"What happened?" I took the scroll without looking at him.

"I had to quiet you down. That wasn't just bat poop—it was quicksand. The more you struggled the more you were pulled in. I had to get you to stay still. I cut off the hands that were still visible when you, uh, stopped moving. Then I pulled you out." His bangs fell on his face.

I pulled out all of my wit and courage and came up with: "Oh."

We were silent as we went for the precipice. Sasuke climbed up first. He held his hand out to me and I took it. He hoisted me upwards. Then Nega-Maya, Negative Extraordinaire, started talking to me.

_What's with the silence, Amaya? So he kissed you. He had to do that to get you out, because you were being stupid and trashing around._

Then he didn't…?

_Do it because he wanted to? You know Sasuke, Amaya. Would he actually kiss you, or anyone else, for that matter, boy just got so many issues, because he wanted to? _

_No_, I thought hesitantly. _He wouldn't. _

_So stop acting like there's something going on. You're being wimpy. Didn't you promise yourself you'd never need the help of any other ninja? Don't you want to be independent and strong? I thought you wanted to make Kakashi proud._

_I do. _

_Then why are you letting Sasuke save you so much?_

"So, Sasuke." I forced my voice to be overly perky, trying to block out my negative self. "One more scroll to go, eh?"

He looked at me in slight disbelief. Then his eyes turned nonchalant.

"Yeah."

_That's right, Amaya. Make him see that you don't need him. That you're strong. You've lived without a family. You don't need him to rescue you. You don't need any male anything to protect you._

Darn it, shut up. I may want to be strong, but that doesn't mean I have to do everything.

"Hey." My voice cracked. I got there before Nega-Maya did.

"Yeah?" Sasuke's eyes lifted.

"Thanks."

_Stupid, stupid, stupid move, Amaya! _

"Whatever." Sasuke muttered, turning around.

Yet, I saw him smile.

A thought zoomed in my head, in the form of something Tsunade-san had once told me when I asked her why she was so strong.

_"Being strong doesn't always mean doing things without the help of others, Miyuki. Sometimes it means letting others do what you know you cannot."_

Big-boobed lady got a point.

* * *

And the time is now… 12:51. Yes, mom, I am going to bed. Yes, I will study tomorrow.

Ha-ha. Like that's ever going to happen.

Sorry if you didn't like the chapter! Last chappie in this stupid, stupid cave ends on chappie 16!!!

Exam day after tomorrow. Haven't reviewed yet. Why do important things have to happen on Monday?

Tell me what you think of this chapter!!!

Drop me a review and a box of tissues, minna.

~Miyu


	16. Caves, Scrolls, and Illusions Last Part

**Okay, peoplez. Thanks to all those who reviewed! You helped me get outta my writer's block (hired bulldozer was not working) ^_^. **

**Anyways, I am so sorry for not updating fast! What with me racing to keep up with Christmas… And y'all know I'm not a runner…I'm pretty slow. I prefer riding in cars. No tripping involved. **

**This chappie is LONG, man. Twenty-two pages. It took me the most of a week to finish this. Bear with me and read until the last word, please?! **

**Hope you guys like this chappie! **

**Onwards…(waves red and green flag).**

**

* * *

**Oh. My. God.

I looked around with a desperation and emo-ness that rivaled a certain Uchiha's. We had been walking for what seemed like _forever_—and dammit, I needed a wheelchair.

_Fucking cave. _

"Sasuke," I paused as voices began rebounding off my head in a mad frenzy. _Remember your dignity, Amaya! _

I was covered in blood, gore, and poop. My hair was a mess and my clothes screamed 'hobo'. My sandals were ripped in several places. What dignity, exactly, was I trying to preserve here?

"How much longer until we get the fuck out of here?"

He simply stared at me in that slightly pitiful way most people do when looking at Gai-sensei.

_One day, I'd like to poke one of those eyes out with a stick and see what happens. _

"Have the scrolls glowed yet?" I looked at the four scrolls tucked into my pocket with silent irritation. Glow already.

"No sign of lightage." If there is such a word.

"Then we keep moving forward. What else can we do, anyway?"

"I don't know. Sit here and wait for the two hours?"

Silence and a few pointed looks.

"Okay. Okay, jeesh. Don't get your panties in a twist, girl." I sniggered lightly. Little Mr. Goody-goody don't wanna get caught slacking off?

"Hey, look, isn't that…" I whirled around to see a _very _familiar blonde head walking towards us with wide Bambi eyes.

"Sasuke? Amaya?"

Sasuke and I stared at each other in disbelief.

"Naruto? Sakura?"

This cave is amazing, really.

*****

"Wow, you look horrible." Naruto so very kindly informed me. Sakura looked over, concern and irritation mixing on her face.

"You're not exactly Miss America yourself, hotshot." I snorted. His knees looked like someone had been gnawing them off, and his forehead had a giant cut on it. Also, one of his jacket sleeves were torn off. _Baby, you look sensational. _

"How do I—we, know you're not impostors?" Sasuke glared at the two. Sakura immediately squealed and fixed her hair. _Looking for a sign? There you go. _

Naruto looked slightly embarrassed. There was a silence for a while.

"Well, you know. The pretending to be Sakura and such."

Sasuke paused and winced. "Fine."

_Did I miss something or other?_

"What is going on here?"

"You're better off not knowing, Maya-chan."

_I did not read all of those Socrates books for nothing. _

"I think I have an inkling," I winked at the two of them, and watched Sasuke and Naruto stiffen. Mission accomplished.

_I'll give them till the end of the day._

Smiling sweetly, I then turned to Sakura to make sure she was really the big-forehead girl I had come to know and occasionally get pissed at instead of some freaky doppelganger person.

"Sasuke told me he is deeply, madly, passionately in love with you." She turned an interesting shade of violet and multiple amounts of red began dripping out of her nose. Sasuke glared at me.

"Okay, okay, don't give me that look." I sighed and closed my eyes. "Okay, Sakura-chan. Remember when I told you about that embarrassing time last summer…" I moved my arms and made big circular movements like a windmill.

Sakura giggled. "Yeah, of course." She leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Okay, okay, stop—" I held up my hand, my face turning bright red. Sasuke was looking at me curiously. I coughed and tried to focus on matters other than Neji once accidentally using his Byakugan on me and seeing _way _too much than he should have. Sometimes the world didn't make sense.

Naruto muttered under his breath at Sasuke's expression and continued where he left off (aka: pissing me about my appearance when he clearly wasn't so good-looking right now himself).

"Seriously, Maya-chan, you've got blood, dirt, and whats-its all over you. Did Sasuke try to kill you or something?" I snorted at the preposterousness. As if Sasuke would ever try to do me in.

Okay, so it wasn't so unlikely.

"Um, Naruto? I don't mean to worry you, but there's a mega-huge, gigantic, ginormous, extremely big cut on your forehead near your temple and it's gushing down like, barrels of your blood." I paused and smiled at his expression. "You'll probably die in what, like, fifteen minutes. Of course it's absolutely nothing to stress about, we'll just leave your _cold_, _dead_, _never-gonna-be-Hokage_ body somewhere around here. Did I mention cold? Dead? Uh…what was that last part? Never gonna be Hokage?"

I paused and caught my breath as Naruto ran in wild circles around us all.

"I'M GOING TO DIE—"

"So, what happened to you guys?" I asked, ducking as Naruto flailed in a flurry of arms and legs and whiskers like some crazy blonde windmill of stupidity.

"DIE AND NEVER SEE THE LIVING SUN—" _Dang it, boy, keep quiet. I can hardly hear pink head over here. _

"Well, we were fighting with doppelgangers of each other. Of course I figured out that he wasn't Naruto right away. Naruto here took a while," Sakura snorted at Naruto. "We just sort of bumped into each other while walking. But I saw him first. I got out with barely a scratch, Sasuke-kun." Sakura gestured proudly to her body which was not wholly covered in blood.

Sasuke stared at me with his _just-how-much-do-you-stink_ face.

"Well you know what they say," I joked. "Danger only picks the hottest person." _Actually, I think that goes something like, danger only picks the stupidest person. _

Insulting? Yes.

Am I about to say it? No.

"NEVER BREATHE FRESH AIR AGAIN—" God, was he really taking this seriously?

"Weird, 'cause I thought we had separate trails—"

"NEVER WALK ON SWEET GRASS—"

"Then I was sucked into this vortex in the wall and Naruto saved me by telling me to relax so he could pull me out—"

"NEVER WATCH STARS ON A CLEAR EVENING—"

"Of course, I conked him on the head and told him he was crazy. But I relaxed soon enough when he told me that I would see Sasuke soon, then I was free, by the way Sasuke, you look handsome today,—"

"NEVER EAT RAMEN AGAIN—"

"Be quiet, Naruto. Then we started walking then you guys appeared, which is why I am here now telling you this whole damn story and—"

"Ohmygod! HOW WILL I BECOME HOKAGE?!"

"How indeedy?" I hissed under my breath. "Boy you are slower than a pack of turtles stampeding through peanut butter."

"Darn it, Naruto, I'm trying to talk here!" Sakura scowled and put her hands on her hips, obviously trying to impress the unimpressable (aka Sasuke). I giggled and stuffed my fist into my mouth to keep from laughing. She looked horrible.

_Okay, so who am I to judge people on how they look when I probably resemble a giant hotdog now. _

"Shut up, woman! How can you talk at a time like this?! I will _die_ in less than ten minutes—"

"Good."

"Stop bickering! So annoying." Sasuke growled. His voice rebounded off the walls of the cave.

_Boy should take up theatre or a job in an army camp or something._

"Sorry, Sasuke! It's this baka's fault." Sakura glared at Naruto and rushed to Sasuke. I huffed and walked over to the dejected blonde.

"Gimme that cut," I smiled at him, purposefully ignoring the spearing looks Sasuke was giving me. I took a deep breath and pulled my healing chakra out. Trailing the green glow over his forehead, I used my other hand to heal his knees.

_There…almost done…_

"Ah! Yes!" Naruto jumped and gave me a massive thank-you hug. I grinned a little and messed up his yellow mass of hair. Sometimes he reminded me of his dad. His totally hot dad.

**(A/N: Well, the Fourth Hokage **is** really hot.)**

"I _will _be Hokage!" He grinned heroically at some unknown spot overhead and raised his fist.

"Alright, we all know that." Sasuke snapped. "Let's just keep walking so we won't be wasting time here standing and watching you talk to the ceiling."

Ouch.

"Listen, teme—"

"What is it, baka?"

"You think you're so superior—"

"Well aren't I?"

"No, you're not, teme!"

"Yes I am, and you know it. Just because you're weak—"

"I am not weak!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Sasuke rolled his eyes. I seriously wanted to conk all their eyes out right there. There was too much eye-rolling going on here.

"I'm stronger than you."

"No, you're not, baka."

"Yes, I am!"

"No."

"Damn it, FUCK!" I yelled.

Pause and a lot of raised eyebrows. _Oh, forget it people, this is a new century. _

"Whoa, she cussed." Naruto muttered.

"That's because she's tougher than you, baka."

"I am not a wimp!"

"Who said that? All I said was that you are weak—"

"What _is _it with the _men_ in this team?! Why can't we all just stop screaming like kindergarteners about who's stronger and buffer and macho-er and who has more abs when you're _obviously_ both completely gifted?!"

Sasuke smirked. Naruto snickered. My eyes widened in indignation when I realized I might have sorta kinda accidentally implied that they were both hot.

Okay, reverse psychology.

"That's right," I found my voice pretty quickly.

"Don't worry your girly little heads about it," I patted their backs. "You're both obviously hot, not to mention manly."

Hah. Wimps.

*****

I walked between them, Sakura walking by Sasuke's side.

"That was mean." I hissed quietly to Sasuke so only he could hear.

"Yeah. So?" He smirked at me.

_Fucking asshole. _

"F-ing sakes, I'm trying my hardest to prevent a showdown between the two of you _baby boys_ and it doesn't help when you go all bigheaded, you…you…emo pig!" I snarled, but Sasuke looked merely amused. You know this is insulting, right?

"F-ing?" He raised his eyebrow.

"What? I have completely bypassed my swear limit for today and I have strictly promised Kakashi to never, ever go past the Swear Boundary." I explained, looking back to that day when Kakashi had lectured about 'saying way too many bad words per day being bad for my health and such'. I hadn't actually believed him—hello, it's not like there are commercials saying; Cussing Is Bad For Your Health or whatever—but it grew on me.

"So from now on, I will not utter a single cuss word until the day ends." I finished proudly. I was a person of my word, I never went back on what I said.

"Look where you're going Amaya—"

"OUCH! FUCKING SHIT ROCK! Who the fucking asshole crap put this here?! God, I am going to kick the bullshit out of this cave!"

…Silence.

"Don't give me that face."

Kakashi would be so damn disappointed.

*****

No fucking way.

"No! No! No!" I watched as Naruto rushed forward in damn slow motion and dramatically slammed his body against the dead end. His eyes were zoomed close. Sakura slammed both fists against the hard rock, her mouth set in a grim line and a deep red suddenly enraging her system. Sasuke did a series of kicks at the wall, his hair being blown by the wind that had come out suddenly from nowhere. I stared in indignation at my lack of fancy shmancy effects.

"Oh, no, we're going to die here. We're going to die and I'm going to spend my life never taking a bath again. How will we _pee_?" I was hit by the mental image of all of us stripping down and tragically and barbarically taking a bath in the same cave like we were prison inmates or something.

"We're not going to die here," Sasuke said firmly.

Sweetheart, it's called _dead _end for a reason.

"There are writings on the wall,"

We looked. We blinked.

Honestly, sometimes I had the attention span of a housefly.

"It…it looks like some sort of different language," Sakura muttered, peering at the inscription. "But I don't know what it says." She studied it closer. Girl was almost kissing the damn wall. Well, whatever takes.

"I don't know," Sakura sighed, falling back.

"So, lemme get this straight." I said. "All we have to do is decode that stupid shi—crap on that wall. That's all we have to do."

They nodded.

We all looked pointedly at Sasuke.

"What?"

"W-ell," I gestured to the writings. "_Someone _should try, too." I nudged his shoulder with mine like we were friends. (It never hurts to be friends with a smart kid).

"Fine." Sasuke huffed and moved closer to the wall.

We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Well, dang, boy we don't got all day," I muttered, reaching over to rub his back, hoping maybe his mind would jog.

"I don't…know either." Sasuke choked out the words like he wasn't used to saying them. _Oh, the pain of being normal._

"Wait…wait…did you just say you _don't_ know?" I said it slowly.

Instead of answering, he turned his back to us, and faced the wall. Which obviously meant yes, he didn't know and would like to go back to being emo and brooding about life and imagining scene after scene of delightful Itachi heads on silver platters. Sometimes emo kids were so predictable.

I stared back at Sakura. I stared at Sasuke. I stared at Naruto and willed him to be damn smart.

_What have I got to lose, anyway? _

"Let me look at it," If I know this I am going to—

Hey…I know this!

Whoa…how long has it been since I said that?

"Sasuke," I said out loud. He was beside me in a minute.

"What is it?"

"I know what this means," I waited for their reaction.

Silence and a few unbelieving stares.

_Oh, that's real great guys. Thank you._

"What is it then, Maya-chan?" Sakura said, in a slightly skeptical tone. And the insult parade marches on.

"It's Latin. I studied Latin last year." Because I already knew how to play the damn piano, the drums, and the guitar, plus those target practices and lessons from Gai-sensei. Most of them had something to do with lotus, youth, and green jumpsuits, but I had learned a few half-sane things as well. A few.

"Latin? The language of the dead?" Sakura asked sharply. I blinked.

"Wow. Really. I spent the whole summer learning some dead people's language?" I deadpanned. "Anyways, I think I know what it says."

Slowly (and I mean slowly, dang it), I began to recite.

_And if you have reached this point_

_Then you must know_

_Three things _

_An act of true love, not too extreme, must be foretold_

_Hate to love, ice to fire, to warm the cold_

_The blood of night rain opens this door_

"That's freaky, plus it doesn't even rhyme, unless you change 'door' with 'doored'. How can rain have blood?" Naruto scratched his head.

"Well," Sasuke quickly intervened. "That step is last, so we'll go with number two. A true act of love must be foretold, what does that mean—"

As soon as Sasuke had recited the verse, a thick green vine begun to wrap hip up, like a giant Venus flytrap. Eyes widened in horror, we watched as the same thing happened to Naruto. The vines coiled around their body, squeezing them tighter.

"Sasuke! Naruto!" Sakura hurled herself at the vines, but the closer she got, the tighter they held on. Naruto was turning blue.

"Sakura, stop!" I screamed and pulled her back. "If we get closer they die."

"But they're going to die right now!" Sakura sobbed. I couldn't look.

"Amaya!" Sasuke gasped. "The verse—decode—"

"Hang on." My hands were trembling. "_A true act of love, not too extreme must be foretold_. What does that mean? Sakura!"

Sakura squinted. "Well, foretold is to tell. An act of love…we've got to tell them something that is a true act of love!"

_A true act of love._

"I love you!" I blurted. "That's a true act of love—to be foretold! That's it, Sakura. We've got to tell them we love them!" Those had got to be the weirdest words that had ever escaped my mouth.

"I love you!" I screamed at them like a crazy maniac. Nothing happened.

Sakura joined in. "I love you, I love you Sasuke!" _Dang, girl this isn't really the moment to make your move._

"This isn't working. Damn. Damn. Okay. _A true act of love, not too extreme must be foretold._ Okay, so maybe love is too extreme. How about fancy? Like? Have a thing about? Work with me here, Sakura!"

"Give me a second, Amaya." Sakura closed her eyes and turned her back against the yells of Naruto and Sasuke's grunts to concentrate.

Panicking, I threw a shuriken with a talisman towards the vine. It exploded upon meeting the plant, but nothing happened. I was too scared to move close. The plant was strangling them, like a giant cobra. Sasuke and Naruto's yells penetrated the damn cave. The plant was tearing through their flesh.

"Maybe this is just a Genjutsu!" Sakura closed her eyes. I could see her trembling.

But this was not a Genjutsu. It wasn't because I was here, and I was feeling their pain and—

"Damn it, you guys! Don't give up on me now! I care so, so much about you!"

_Care._

"I care about you guys," I shouted. "I care 'cause we're a team. We're a team right? Okay, so I may not be as strong as Lee, or as pretty as Ino, or as skilled as Tenten. But I know you guys care about me too, okay?" I just kept on babbling.

"Like Naruto. I know someday you're going to be this, this great and legendary Hokage. You'll be strong. People are going to accept you for who you are. But right now, we already accept you, Kyuubi or not Kyuubi. We're your friends, and we believe in you."

"Naruto…I'm sorry for everything!" Sakura's green eyes looked up. It was probably all she could say but I could see that it meant the world to Naruto. His blue eyes shone.

"Sakura. Someday you're going to be this strong, independent, beautiful woman. I know it. You'll be brilliant and smart and talented and—" I cast her a look, smiling. "You'll stop trying to impress Sasuke so much." She burbled a little as the tears ran down.

"And…Sasuke." I breathed. "Well, I can't say we have much in common, but I also lost my parents. I know how much it hurts. Okay. But we're your family right now. Like it or not, and I know you don't, we care for each other. Someday, when you're older, you'll probably leave us." I realized I was crying. "But that's okay, because you can always come back. You will always come back. Right?"

I sank to the ground.

_What if he didn't come back…?_

Warm arms wrapped around me, pulling me up. A voice whispered in my ear.

"Right."

*****

"We broke the second verse." Sakura muttered, as we broke apart from the cheesy group hug we had been sharing. I could see that Sasuke had reached his emotional limit and if anyone talked about love or care or happiness and sunshine and rainbows, he would scream. Well hell, I had never heard Sasuke scream. Maybe now would be a good—

"Great!" Naruto interrupted my thoughts and punched the air.

"Fantastic. We only got the third verse left," I said sarcastically. What'd it be, this time? A giant pit of doom with pieces of glass decorating the floor?

"_The blood of hardened rain with a heart pure opens this door_." Sasuke recited like the perfect little student he was.

"Well, fuck. It's not raining." I looked at the ceiling jokingly.

"Maybe a Jutsu." Sakura mumbled.

"An illusion?" Sasuke muttered, deep in thought.

Wow, I get pretty bored watching smart people stare on walls for long periods of time **(A/N: Trust me, I do it to.)**.

"Guys." Naruto looked at us, his blue eyes squinched in concentration. "I'm beginning to think that the blood we're talking about here is from one of us. Someone with a pure heart can open this door."

We looked at each other. We looked at Naruto.

_Well. _

"I knew that." Sasuke glared at a smug Naruto. Hah. It was the oldest excuse in the book. One that I had used, many, many, many times.

One by one, we went up there to slice our arms a little bit and wait to see if the door moved. After Sakura had left in disappointment and all was left was me, it was pretty damn obvious none of us had pure intentions.

I could feel their eyes boring at me as I walked there and took out my kunai. Wonderful.

I hesitated.

But this wasn't it. This didn't feel right.

I dropped the kunai and instead took out my water pouch.

"Amaya, what—" I held up my hand to their protests. _Let me be crazy here._

I watched as the water splish-sploshed to the ground. I raised my hand and formed a big, fat, sharp, icicle. Then I poked it into my arm a little. Blood poured out in red, shiny, round drops.

Then I laid the ice down.

The door damn opened.

"I cannot believe I didn't get that." Sasuke smirked a little.

"Well, even a blind pig snorts up a truffle or two sometimes." I declared primly. Naruto chuckled. Sakura looked a little lost. Sweetie, this would be a first.

"Hardened rain—ice, duh," I joked and paused in some disbelief.

"I still can't believe my heart is so damn pure," I teased, as we walked forward. We could see the light not far now.

"Actually, I was thinking about gloating to Kakashi-sensei if I opened the door," Naruto frowned. "And rubbing it in Sasuke's face."

"And I was, um, kind of speculating that Ino would be jealous if I told her about me opening the door," Sakura blushed.

"It's pretty obvious why _I _couldn't open the door," Sasuke smiled a little. I could see that Sakura was getting a major nosebleed. Some things just don't change.

"Well, damn," I joked. "I was only thinking about getting home and taking a nice, hot bath, and eating tons and tons of ramen. What is wrong with you guys?"

******

A sharp light blasted on our faces as we finally got out of the damn cave.

"Say cheese!"

Kakashi was standing there, with a camera in his hand. As the bulb went off, his expression when he finally got a good look at us went from happy to extremely fucking worried and/or slightly exasperated. I thought it better to intervene before he went on mother overload.

"Okay, okay, before you go all mother on me, I slipped and—"

"Hit your head on a rock," Kakashi finished. "I know. I saw you."

My eyes narrowed. "_You_ were that damn pervy Sasuke-look a like?!"

They all looked at me as if to say _'Well, hell, she _is _crazy.'_

You guys are just a teeny bit slow, aren't you?

"No," Kakashi immediately moved over to inspect the wound. "Thank God, you're fine. I got Shino over to put bugs all over the cave so we could monitor what was going on." He raised his eyebrows at me, making it extremely clear he had seen whatever had taken place between Sasuke and me.

Damn Shino and his bugs.

"Congratulations, guys!" Kakashi smiled at us. "You learned how to be a great team. And you got out just…" He peered at his watch. "Three minutes from the deadline."

"Talk about cutting it close," Naruto sighed and collapsed on the ground.

"Seriously. You guys have finally learned something I have been trying to teach you since I saw your eager, in love, aloof, and crackpot little faces. You learned how to know, trust, and love each other. You're a real team now." Kakashi wiped a tear of his face. "My, they grow up so fast. And I have a surprise for you." Kakashi smiled at us. I tried not to get my hopes up. Key word being _tried_.

"Open your scrolls,"

Quizzically, I brought out my scrolls, and with a nod from the others, opened the first one. I laughed in disbelief.

There was a picture of us when we started at the mouth of the cave. I looked to be in the act of trying to escape. The others were all looking heroically, bravely at the entrance. I was such a wimp.

"Ya'll are so dramatic," I said out loud.

We opened the second scroll. They were single-man portraits of us. I was looking pretty good. Heh…it never hurt to notice. I was surrounded by ice needles and was looking pretty pissed. Go me.

The one of Naruto was surprisingly Hokage-like. He was scowling and his clones were all behind him. I was surprised at the power he radiated.

Sakura was smiling triumphantly, with about ten Shinobi lying at her feet. She looked smug and independent.

Sasuke had burned a hole through the cave and he looked sort of angry, with his mouth turned downward. He looked vulnerable, but also damn strong. He looked like an Uchiha.

The third was the one of me and Sasuke. I was inside the pool of poop and grimacing, cringing from the contents. He, on the other hand, was visibly _not _getting grossed out, and instead going around doing manly poses.

The fourth touched me. It had been the group hug and I choked back a couple of tears. I felt like I belonged here.

The fifth and last scroll was the one with Kakashi. We had taken it on the day I officially joined Team 7 and drove them crazy. I was looking a little hyper and excited, with one hand on Sakura's shoulder, and the other one on Sasuke's, trying to smush them together.

We were all quiet for a second. This was my family. My real family. And as I looked at Sasuke, I knew he was thinking the same thing.

"Well, this has been a great, wonderful, bloody day." I smiled at my teammates and they looked at me as if I was about to launch into a world-defying speech. Hah. "But, regrettably I have a date—" I checked my watch. "With my bathroom. Thanks for coming and Happy Birthday to the happy couple."

And with that nugget of invaluable shit, I ran off before they could even blink. Of course I tripped and they laughed.

* * *

**Sorry if it was long! I really did try my best.  
**

**Reviewers get a Naruto each! He comes with a cute little mini bowl of ramen. If you try to pry the ramen from his chubby little hands, he screams and screams until your ears bleed. But hey, if you squeeze him, he says: "BELIEVE IT!"! **

**Drop me a review for my depressed self, and hope you enjoyed reading, minna^-^**

**Thanks so much for reading…! **

**~Miyu **


	17. Unlove you

**Well, here it is, peepz, ^_^ Dun-dun-dun-dun! **

**Sorry I updated so late! Belated Merry Christmas to everybody and advance Happy New Year (it is now Dec. 31 here, yes I cut it close).  
**

**Tell me what you think later on, minna. I can always re-write. Constructive criticism will appreciated!  
**

**Also, Sasuke is OOC here. In more ways than one. What have I created? XD**

**Anyways…onwards!**

**

* * *

**Two things—two forces—existing side by side without destroying each other, without limiting each other. Like, say, flowers and bees, or the sky and the stars.

There were, of course, the pairs you never even thought of introducing to each other, like, ice cream and pickles, or a Saturday afternoon and homework.

Fire and Ice were two of those multiple exceptions; you never, ever mixed, not without completely destroying either one.

The characteristics lay there, point-blank for people to gawk at.

Ice shone. No imperfections, no inhibitions, beautiful in every aspect. Cold and firm, unyielding. The blue that glowed softly symbolized a gracefulness, coldness. It struggled with being happy. Contentment was as far as it went.

Fire was the opposite. Cheery, merry, lively. It couldn't stay still. It blazed on other people, shedding a light so bright you'd be mistaken thinking the flame brave. That the crackling red color symbolized bravery. But a simple draft, some wind, and it would go off. The brave façade would disappear like smoke. The red didn't symbolize bravery, it symbolized happiness, the ability to smile, to laugh.

Fire and Ice; two totally different forces, to sit side by side.

They could not counter-exist. There was no agreement there. One could not be in the room where the other one was. Zero toleration.

It was simple. Ice could not exist closely with Fire without obliterating the other, and vice versa. There was nothing between them, no barrier, no shield, no nothing. What would happen if one of them got too close?

If one of them fell in love?

* * *

I stared at the ripples that were forming gracefully on the water. I trailed my finger up and a little shower of water flew, guided by my chakra. I raised my palm, and a few small geysers of water began spurting water upwards, mixing with the colors of the sunset.

"Beautiful,"

I stared strangely at the water. Was I about to see a mermaid?

_I'm hearing things. This is _just_ what that doctor predicted._

I looked around and jolted. Sasuke lay beside me, his arms behind his head.

"No such thing as privacy in this damn village," I grumbled under my breath.

He replied. I hadn't meant for him to hear me. "No, none at all."

We lay in silence for a while. I yawned and my eyes started to close.

"Hey," Sasuke muttered, in a rough voice. I opened my lids blearily.

"Hi," I took a peek at his face. The rays of the setting sun shone on his pale skin, casting a soft glow. His bangs fell on his eyes.

"I need to tell you something,"

I deliberated, wondering, wondering, wondering…

"Go for it,"

"Don't laugh, or interrupt, okay?"

Sasuke paused and took a deep breath.

"I've always been typed as handsome."

I snorted to myself. Keep the dream alive. **(A\N: Kate from Twilight ****TM**)

"When I was born, when I grew up, I've had girls following me. They all seemed to be in love with me." He scoffed, like this was a stupid thing, like a girl falling in love was nothing useful. Unimportant. I frowned.

"Everywhere I went, I could hear them screaming my name. Girls, with their thick clouds of perfumes and shrilly voices. I think I even had a fanclub with seven hundred and one girl members—"

"_And_ your fanclub consisted of female _and_ male members. Wonder how much guys in Konoha harbored a secret fetish for you?" I said sarcastically. "Cut the crap, Sasuke. If you're looking for confirmation on your looks, go stare at the mirror."

He did the most annoying thing he could have done and laughed. I scowled at him. Gently, he pulled me down, scooting me a little closer to him. If it wasn't for the uber self-love he was spewing out, I wouldn't be sure of whom I was talking to.

"Let me finish,"

_I the fuck don't want a complete and total autobiography about how gorgeous you look. _

"No more narcissism or I am going to hurl."

"Just shut up and listen,

I rolled my eyes, but surrendered.

"I strived for perfection, and I got it." He continued. I snorted at him. "Well, as close as I could get, anyway. I grew up feeling superior, with everybody below me. I was too good. I didn't have time for them. I took for granted what they gave me. I think they all noticed how I was."

"Them?"

"Everybody. Friends. Elders. Mentors. I stuck with them because I could benefit. Uchihas are always driven by purpose, never pleasure." He took my hand and skimmed it along his cheek. I couldn't get his purpose.

"I got used to it. The feeling of solidarity. Of depending only on myself. I pushed beyond my boundaries, and really," He waved his hand. "Girls meant next to nothing to me. They were just people who screamed a lot. I always tried my best to be polite. Just not every time." He laughed a quiet laugh.

"I was used to getting what the hell I wanted. I was used to being perfect, to being gorgeous. The one-man team. In control, able to do anything."

What a guy. What a self-obsessed ass. He sounded like a salesperson.

"You don't understand." He suddenly choked. "To be—to be on top of your game, feeling like nothing can slow you down; feeling like you can do anything. And when something finally stops you, it doesn't even know what it's doing. That was weak of me. That was stupid."

"I've done everything I can. I've demanded every single thing imaginable from myself and I've gotten it. It seems so wimpy not to be able to do this. I've tried. But I can't—" He stopped at this, his voice breaking strangely. I was not used to this side of Sasuke. I wanted him to turn around and go back.

"Can't? Can't what?" I asked. My voice was too loud in the quiet clearing.

He was silent. He laughed with a miserable tone. "I am such a coward. I can't even say it."

"Just spit it out, Sasuke."

His eyes strayed to the ground.

"I can't unlove you."

An eternity.

An eternity must have passed.

I blinked. "Sorry. Run that by me again?"

He rolled his eyes. "Amaya, I'm not going to say it again. I know you heard me."

I paused. I replayed his words in my mind. They didn't make sense, not in any order. I paused the track and played it again, slowly this time.

_Ahy can't uhn-love youh. _

It sounded simple enough.

"Amaya?"

I looked at him slowly, as if I was seeing him in a whole different light. "I think I may get it."

He looked relieved and slightly worried. "Well, that's great."

He waited. I waited.

I stared at the lake. There was too much going on in here. I was too scared to jump. What was I feeling, anyway? Why was I feeling this?

I stared blankly at the sky.

Sasuke shifted a little. I felt his hands pull me closer to him. He didn't demand anything. I felt his hands rub my sides. He was trying to calm me. I was torturing him.

I focused my thoughts on the most imminent threat that posed down on us.

What, exactly, were my feelings for him? Did I love him? Did I hate him? Did I feel anything at all?

_Amaya. Get a hold of yourself. _

I took my heart out and considered what was lying there, in the deepest, darkest parts of the jungle. I shook it out and forced everything to come to light. What did I feel?

_Come on out, with your hands up. _I told my heart._ No use pretending. 'Fess up. What horrible crime have you committed now? _

It answered, in a small voice.

Love.

My subconscious groaned. _Guilty as charged. Take her away, boys. _

If only it was as simple as that. Love. Huh. What did I know about love?

I'd felt it with Kakashi, but that was a different thing. It was a sibling thing. I feel it with Naruto, but that was different too, a friend kind of love. With Naruto, I didn't feel the joy Sasuke gave me when he laughed, or the warm feeling I get when he holds me.

Maybe this was love. Maybe I just didn't know how to interpret the symbols. Were they in hieroglyphs?

But I knew now. When I magnified everything in my criminal heart, when I scrutinized everything hidden, I knew.

Knew that the warmth, the heat that I shared with him was more than friendship. That the smile he put on my face every time _he_ smiled, was more than a wimpy comrade thing we had going on. It was so much more than that. Even if he annoyed me endlessly, he also gave me joy. Evidence didn't lie. Why hadn't I seen it before?

And again, the answer sprang there, from nowhere, taking a hit at my embarrassingly small amount of courage.

I had been scared. Sad, but true.

Scared to fall, scared to love. Scared that he would leave me, as did my parents. Rejection? So what. But falling in love was what petrified me, what froze me. Once you jumped, you fell, and there was no going back.

Falling in love, having nothing to hold on to. The fall was the thrill. But where did it go? Where would you land, once the fall was over?

Would you crash on rocks? Would you drown in the ocean? Or would you find a piece of wood to cling on, for now?

That was what scared me. What was there, after the fall? Where would the relationship go? Would it go anywhere? Would there still be a relationship?

With your heart right there, practically in the open, such an easy target, so vulnerable, how could you avoid getting hurt?

_I would be the Cowardly Lion_, I thought morbidly. Afraid of being the _Tin Man_.

He had confessed.

Why couldn't I?

*****

"Listen."

My voice broke the silence. His eyes opened. I was too coward to say it. I had to hand it to me. It would've taken just a couple words, but I went for the song I knew fit us.

_I fell in a perfect way_

_Never had a choice to make_

_Crash into your tidal wave_

_I didn't even struggle…_

This was what I was afraid of. This was what I was getting into.

_Sailed right through your atmosphere_

_Closed my eyes and landed here_

_I didn't see the trouble_

_And I didn't care._

I watched his expression as I sang.

_I can't unlove you_

_Can't do that_

_No matter how I try,  
_

_I'll never turn my back on_

_Someone _

_Who loves me too..._

_I can do most anything I have to…_

I smiled at this. I could see his lips twitch.

_But this one thing _

_I cannot change_

_I almost kinda like the pain._

_Wear your tattoo like a stain_

_And it will take forever_

_To fade away…_

I continued, blinking at the stare he gave me.

_I can't unlove you_

_Can't do that_

_No matter how I try_

_I'll never turn my back on_

_Someone _

_Who loves me too_

_I can do most anything I have to…_

"But I can't unlove you," I finished, and I said it this time. I stared directly into his grey eyes.

Sasuke smiled at me, and I felt his lips on my jaw.

"_I love you_ is so cliché," he said. I almost laughed.

*****

Fire and Ice. We're back to square one.

Yes, within five feet, fire would have melted ice. Ice would have weakened fire. Nothing in the whole space time continuum could possibly have seen that coming. But that was what happened.

In a way, I melted Sasuke, ignoring his emotional boundaries, and going for the kill. If there was a lever refrigerating his heart, I had pulled it down. I told him this and he laughed.

He, on the other hand, had forced me to face the truth: I was a damn scared wimp. But I had taken a chance, I had jumped. I didn't know where the fall would lead me, but I knew one thing.

Now, was what mattered, what I would treasure. And he would be here with me, wherever this was going.

We were fire and ice, and we were inseparable. Can you imagine a small fire burning inside a block of ice?

And there, under the last rays of the sun, we watched as the big, ball of scarlet that was the sun, cast rays on the water underneath.

I turned to look at Sasuke. I wasn't all that surprised to be met by an impatient set of lips.

_He's right_, I smiled, as I interlocked my fingers in his hair. _I love you _is _cliché._

_

* * *

  
_

**Oh. My. God. **

**I **did** it. Did you like it? I can re-write. I did my best. Maybe I should re-write.  
**

**Review, please, minna! I'm dying to hear what you think! I worked my ass off (okay, so I got sidetracked by Christmas and I had a writer's block.) I did this in the record time of one and a half-days, editing and re-writing, and eating in between. **

**Thanks for reading and hoped you liked it! THERE WILL BE AN AUTHOR'S NOTE SOMETIME LATER ON. Please read! **

**PS: The song was 'Unlove you' by Ashley Tisdale. Try playing it while reading the chappie. That was how I started typing. **

**~Miyu **


	18. LATE Author's Note

Hey yo, peepz!

I am so sorry for not updating fast! I was supposed to post this right away, but I've been laden with homework seeing as it's almost summer, and teachers are trying to squeeze in as much assignments as possible, before they have to stop torturing us.

THANK YOU GUYS. Thanks. So much. For being the reason why I _write_. For helping me bounce up when I'm down at Emo Low. Your reviews are what keeps me eating ice cream while tapping at those keys. I love reading your reviews! And even those who didn't review, who just read the story, you still rock. You guys have impeccable taste in fics ^_^

I really hope you liked reading as much as I've loved reading your reviews! I love you guys!!!

SASUKE**: THE LAZY-ASS AUTHOR HAS FAILED TO WRITE EVEN A **_**SINGLE **_**FUCKING ONE-LINE DISCLAIMER, SO WE'VE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF DOING IT FOR HER BEFORE POLICE COMES.  
**

Amaya: --fumbling with papers—Can I talk now? Yeah? Okay. **MIYU-CHAN ENTERPRISES DOES NOT, I REPEAT, DOES NOT OWN NARUTO. WHILE I'M ON AIR, I'D ALSO LIKE TO SAY THE SUPREME UNFAIRNESS OF SASUKE HAVING A LONGER LINE THAN I DO. IT'S DISCRIMINATORY AND AN INSULT TO MY INTELLIGENCE. AS IF I'M NOT CAPABLE OF HUNCHING OVER PAGES OF UGLY WRITING NIGHT AFTER NIGHT! **

Miyu: Hey. I resent that. My writing's not that bad. You just--turns script around--have to squint. Really hard.

So, merci, thank you, salamat (Filipino for thank you), and see you around!

Thanks so much again, and I love you guys!!!

**~Miyu**

PS: Remember those updates I had when I said I was studying for an entrance exam? Well, I passed. OH MY GOD. Thank the Lord!!! XD


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